Originally part of the Buck Estate purchased by Dominican College in 1935, which housed the Buck family summer home called Benincasa (built c.1884) after the surname of Saint Catherine of Siena Benincasa was originally used as a senior residence hall and campus club meeting space.

Benincasa was demolished in 1961 to make space for the current library building. The Archbishop Alemany Library is named in honor of Joseph Alemany, the first Archbishop of San Francisco and the archbishop who brought the Dominican Sisters to California.

Courtesy of the University Archives of Dominican University of California