Villa Gesell is a seaside resort city in Villa Gesell Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded in 1931, with the intention of turning a dune field into a timber plantation. The growth of the city allowed it to annex the nearby cities of Mar de las Pampas, Las Gaviotas and Mar Azul.

The city is named after Carlos Idaho Gesell (1891–1979), the son of German economist Silvio Gesell. Carlos Gesell bought wood at Tigre for his business, and wanted to plant pines somewhere near Mar del Plata to reduce costs. Gesell was not planning to build a city at that point. Héctor Guerrero, owner of most lands in the region, told him of 16.48 km² (6.36 sq mi) of sand dunes on sale for 28,000 pesos, and Gesell bought them in 1931 when he checked for the existence of groundwater in the area. The coastline was 10 km (6.21 mi) long. He immediately began to forest the area, and built a house for himself in 1932. This house is now a municipal museum.

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