[9 and 7 East 72nd Street.]
9 East 72nd Street was originally the Henry T. and Jessie Sloane house, later the James Stillman house, then the Lycée Français de New York. 7 East 72nd Street was originally the Oliver Gould and Mary Brewster Jennings house, later the Lycée Français de New York.
Museum of the City of New YorkOliver Gould Jennings Residence (at left), ca. 1975.
The Oliver Gould Jennings residence was built in 1898 by Paris-trained architects Ernest Flagg and Walter B. Chambers. Like his father, a founder of the Standard Oil Company, Oliver ranked among New York's wealthiest citizens. He served as the director of several companies, including the National Fuel Gas Company and Bethlehem Steel, and was a former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Oliver and his wife Mary lived in the Beaux-Arts townhouse until 1914, when they sold the house and relocated to their new home on Fifth Avenue between 69th and 70th Street.
In August of 1960, the Lycée Français, a French high school, leased the mansion as additional space to its main campus on East 95th Street. The school occupied the building for several years before also purchasing the former Sloane mansion next door, combining the two units. In 2010, the school sold the former Oliver Gould Jennings residence and the Sloane mansion for $26 million. The buyer, an Emir of Qatar, has since commissioned architect Thornton Tomasetti to return it to a private residence.
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