History and architecture
The Oliver Gould Jennings residence on East 72nd Street is an especially opulent and handsome example of a Beaux-Arts townhouse-. Designed in 1898 by the Paris-trained architects Ernest Flagg and Walter B. Chambers, the house harmonizes very effectively with the adjoining Sloane residence which had been completed two years earlier.
These two houses lend a note of true Parisian elegance to Manhattan's Upper East Side, Appropriately, they are now part of the Lycee Francais de New York.
Oliver Gould Jennings, a graduate of Yale, also studied law at Columbia University. He was a director of several large corporations, including the National Fuel Gas Company, Bethlehem Steel, and McKesson. & Robbins. He was married to Mary Brewster, a family tie which reflected the business ties between the Jennings and Brewsters. In partnership Oliver B. Jennings and Benjamin Brewster had invested in the business ventures of John D. and William Rockefeller; these oil interests greatly augmented both the Jennings and Brewster family fortunes.
Oliver Gould Jennings later moved to a new residence at 882 Fifth Avenue, and No. 7 East 72nd street was sold and passed through various hands until it was acquired by the Lycee Francais de New York in 1964.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.