The fungus was first described in 1877 by the British botanist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, based on specimens sent to him that had been found growing on the walls, ceilings, and floors of a house in Edinburgh that had been partially destroyed by fire. The species was transferred to genus Aleuria by Ethel Irene McLennan & Halsey in 1936, and later into Galactinia by Irma J. Gamundi in 1960; both of the binomials resulting from these generic transfers are synonyms of P. domiciliana.
