User:Epicgenius/sandbox/draft27

Coordinates: 40°46′20.4″N 73°57′58.2″W / 40.772333°N 73.966167°W / 40.772333; -73.966167
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Oliver Gould Jennings House

The Oliver Gould Jennings House is a mansion at 7 East 72nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is along 72nd Street's northern sidewalk between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. The four-story building was designed by Ernest Flagg and Walter B. Chambers and was built in 1898. The house, along with the neighboring structure at 9 East 72nd Street, has been owned since 2002 by the government of Qatar, which has combined the two buildings into a single residence.

The facade is divided vertically into two bays and is made of rusticated blocks of limestone, rising four stories from the street. It includes an arched entrance at the first story, French windows opening onto a balcony at the second story, and a mansard roof on the fourth story. The house originally spanned 18,256 square feet (1,696.0 m2), with interiors designed in a variety of styles. The interior spaces included a ground-floor dining room and reception room; a second-floor library and drawing room; and bedrooms on the upper stories. After 7 and 9 East 72nd Street were combined, the residence included a swimming pool and a roof terrace.

The house was constructed for Oliver Gould Jennings between 1898 and 1899. Jennings lived there until 1914, when it was resold several times. It was used as a temporary location of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from 1956 to 1959. In 1960, it became part of the Lycée Français de New York, which also came to occupy 9 East 72nd Street. The house became a New York City designated landmark in 1977. The school vacated 7 and 9 East 72nd Street in 2002, when they were sold to Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar. After the Qatari government finished renovating and combining the buildings in 2010, the two structures comprised New York City's largest single-family residence.

Site[edit]

The former Oliver Gould Jennings House is at 7 East 72nd Street, along the northern side of 72nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.[1] The house originally had a north–south depth of 102 feet (31 m);[2][3] sources disagree on whether the frontage on 72nd Street was 25 feet (7.6 m)[2] or 28 feet (8.5 m).[3][4] Since 2010, the house has been connected with the former Henry T. Sloane House at 9 East 72nd Street, immediately to the east, forming a single residence.[5] The two houses collectively occupy a single rectangular land lot of 8,923 square feet (829.0 m2), with a frontage of 87.33 feet (26.62 m) and a north–south depth of 102.17 feet (31.14 m).[6] Notable buildings nearby include the Pulitzer Mansion on the block to the north; 907 Fifth Avenue and 9 East 71st Street on the block to the south; and the Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House and St. James' Episcopal Church on Madison Avenue to the east. In addition, Central Park is one half block to the west.[1][6]

Architecture[edit]

The building was designed by Ernest Flagg and Walter B. Chambers of the firm of Flagg and Chambers.[7][8] It was constructed in a modern French style.[8] The facade was intended to complement the design of Henry T. Sloane's house at 9 East 72nd Street.[8][9] The architects accomplished this by using Indiana limestone, a similar material to the stone used on Sloane's home, and by matching the floor heights of Jennings's house to those of Sloane's.[9]

Facade[edit]

The house rises three stories above a raised basement, and it is topped by a mansard roof.[9] The only visible elevation of the facade, on 72nd Street, is divided vertically into two bays. On the first story, the facade is rusticated and contains smooth-faced horizontal bands alternating with vermiculated horizontal bands.[4][9] There is a carved wooden doorway in the left bay of the house.[4] Within the right bay, there is a wide archway with a window.[9] Carved brackets, above the first-floor door and window, support a balcony on the second floor.[9][10]

On the second floor, the facade is also rusticated but is made entirely of smooth limestone.[9] The second-story French doors open onto a balcony with an elaborate iron balustrade.[10] At the top of the second-story windows are scallop designs, which are recessed into the facade. There are corbels with cartouches below either of the third-story window sills. The windows on the third story are placed within segmentally-arched openings, and there are ornate iron window guards in front of the windows.[9] Above the third-story windows is a cornice with brackets, as well as an iron railing above the cornice, which extends across the house. The fourth story is within a convex mansard roof,[9][10] which is made of copper and slate.[4] There are two dormer windows on the roof, each with an elaborate copper cresting and an ornate frame.[9] Above each dormer window is a segmentally-arched pediment with carved cartouches, and there are also volutes flanking each of the dormer windows.[10]

Features[edit]

Interior of the bel étage, before renovation in 2007

The house spans 18,256 square feet (1,696.0 m2) across five stories. It is decorated with details such as fireplaces and molded decorations.[11] The house was intended to be fireproof;[12] as such, kalamein-iron doors and windows were used throughout the house.[13]

The ground-level entrance led to a vestibule and entrance hall with stone walls and marble floors.[10] The stairs, walls, fireplace, and cornice of the entrance hall were all of carved Caen stone, while the floor was made of marble with inlaid borders in different colors.[14] There was also a reception room at the front of the ground story, with wooden paneling and a plaster ceiling.[10] The reception room was to the east of the entrance, adjoining a powder room.[15] A stair in the Louis XV style led from the eastern side of the house up to the second floor;[10] the railings on the stairs were of wrought iron.[14] In the rear of the ground story was a dining room, with decorations in the Louis XIV style,[10] in addition to an adjoining pantry.[15]

The primary rooms were placed on the second floor, one story above ground.[9] At the front of the house was a drawing room measuring 25 by 31 feet (7.6 by 9.4 m) across, while at the rear of the house was a library measuring 20 by 24 feet (6.1 by 7.3 m) long.[12] The drawing room was in the French rococo style, and the library was in the Louis XVI style with half-height bookcases and a marble fireplace.[10] The drawing room and library were connected by a stair hall and gallery.[12][15] When 7 East 72nd Street was combined with the neighboring 9 East 72nd Street in 2010, the combined houses included two levels of bedrooms, a swimming pool, and two top floors for the staff.[5] There was also a 8,500-square-foot (790 m2) terrace above the two houses.[16] Observer cites the two houses as occupying a combined 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2),[17] though the New York City Department of City Planning cites the gross floor area as 42,380 square feet (3,937 m2).[6]

History[edit]

7 East 72nd Street was originally constructed for Oliver Gould Jennings, who served on the boards of numerous companies such as Bethlehem Steel, McKesson & Robbins, and National Fuel Gas.[18] Jennings's father Oliver Burr Jennings was one of the original stockholders of Standard Oil, one of the world's largest oil businesses, and had left his son $1.3 million upon his death in 1893.[19] The younger Jennings was married to Mary Dows Brewster, the daughter of his father's business partner Benjamin Brewster.[18][19] When Benjamin Brewster died in 1897, he left Mary a large inheritance.[19]

Original residence[edit]

By the mid-1890s, numerous wealthy families had settled on 72nd Street,[20][21] including the Jennings family.[19] In March 1898, the Jennings family bought a plot on the north side of 72nd Street, east of Fifth Avenue, from the family of Collis P. Huntington for between $75,000 and $80,000.[2][3] Jennings was one of several people to buy land on the east side of Fifth Avenue from 72nd to 73rd Street in the late 1890s.[22] Flagg and Chambers were hired to design the house,[7][8] while Sloane & Moller were hired as the house's general contractors.[13] The architects intentionally designed the facade so it harmonized with the facade of Henry T. Sloane's adjacent mansion at 9 East 72nd Street.[23] The house was completed in 1899,[18] and the New-York Tribune reported at the end of November that the house was ready for their occupancy.[24] The Jennings family hosted events such as dinners in their house.[25] In addition to their 72nd Street residence, the Jenningses had a country estate named Mailands in Fairfield, Connecticut.[26]

With the growing traffic on 72nd Street, the Jennings family no longer wished to live on that street.[27] Jennings agreed in April 1914 to sell his house to W. Emlen Roosevelt's Four West Fifty-seventh Street Company.[28] Media sources record the building as having been transferred to Frank Schlitt,[29][30] who promptly gave it to Roosevelt.[30] Jennings bought an empty site at 882 Fifth Avenue,[28] where he developed a new house.[31] He continued to live at 7 East 72nd Street for at least another year, and the Real Estate Record reported at the end of 1915 that the new house was nearly completed.[32] At some point, ownership of the house reverted to Jennings, who sold it in October 1917 to Sumner Gerard,[33][34] a businessman whose brother James W. Gerard was a former U.S. ambassador.[35] The house was offered as partial payment for a site that Gerard owned on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 96th Street.[33][34] When the house was transferred to Gerard, it was valued at $325,000.[34][35]

Among the events the Gerard family hosted in their house were a bridge tournament to raise funds for charity,[36] as well as a meeting for the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.[37] The Gerard family lived at the house for a relatively short time; by January 1923, the New-York Tribune reported that the house had been sold yet again.[38] The house was then occupied by Henry I. Riker, his wife, and their children.[39] Riker himself is recorded as having lived there until his death in November 1927.[40] The Rikers' daughter Mary moved out following her marriage in 1930,[41] while their son John had moved out by the time he got married in 1932.[42] Henry's widow Mary was living at the house by herself by the 1940s, when she bought the neighboring residence at 9 East 72nd Street to protect the value of her house.[43]

Institutional use[edit]

It once hosted the Danish mission to the United Nations.[44]

The house was used as a temporary location of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from 1956 to 1959.[45] Among the exhibitions that the museum hosted in the house were two exhibits showcasing acquisitions and loans to the museum's collection.[46]

Use as school[edit]

The Lycée Français de New York, a French-language school, leased 7 East 72nd Street from Sterling J. Boos in August 1960.[44] Lycée Français initially housed its kindergarten and its secondary school in the building.[39] In April 1964, Lycée Français purchased 7 and 9 East 72nd Street from the Boos family for a combined $850,000. The school took out a $815,275 mortgage from Massachusetts Mutual, which covered both the 72nd Street houses and Lycee Francais's original building at 3 East 95th Street.[39] Although the expansion at 9 East 72nd Street opened on September 24, 1964, the school hosted classes in one of the houses' old ballrooms due to a lack of space.[47]

The school made relatively few alterations to the two houses over the years.[48] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission considered designating 7 and 9 East 72nd Street as city landmarks in 1976[49] and granted the designations in January 1977, despite the school's opposition to either designation.[50] By the late 1970s, the houses at 7 and 9 East 72nd Street contained Lycee Francais's kindergarten through fourth grade classes.[51] Lycee Francais bought 12 East 73rd Street, a five-bedroom mansion behind the two 72nd Street houses,[52] for $4.3 million in 1994. The 73rd Street mansion was subsequently linked to the existing 72nd Street houses.[11]

After Lycee Francais developed a new building on York Avenue in the 2000s, the school originally considered keeping the six townhouses that it owned, including the houses at 7 and 9 East 72nd Street, but they were all protected as city landmarks, making it difficult to modify any of the houses without permission from the city government.[53] Instead, the school began looking to sell the six townhouses in August 2000 at a combined price of $100 million.[54][55] Initially, Lycee Francais hired Massey Knakal to market the buildings; school officials refused an offer to buy the buildings for $43 million. When Lycee Francais hired the Corcoran Group as the new broker the next year, it sought $51 million for the two 72nd Street houses, including $21 million for 7 East 72nd Street.[11] The 72nd Street houses remained unsold for over two years because of a decline in New York City real estate following the September 11 attacks.[55]

Conversion back to residence[edit]

Although an appraiser said in mid-2002 that the two buildings at 7 and 9 East 72nd Street could be sold for $25 million each,[20] they were ultimately sold for a combined $26 million.[11][56] The purchaser of the buildings was Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, then the Emir of Qatar,[5][57] who reportedly beat out the developer Donald Trump and an unknown bidder when he agreed to acquire the properties in August 2002.[11] The sale was finalized the next year.[58] The Qatari government began combining the two buildings into a single house in 2004; the project, designed by Thornton Tomasetti, took six years.[5]

The renovations of both buildings had been completed by 2010.[7] The combined mansion at 7–9 East 72nd Street covered 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2), making it New York City's largest single-family house.[17] It also became one of several dozen properties that the Qatari government owned in New York City.[56] Qatari Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani used the houses as her New York City residence, displaying her art collection across numerous rooms.[16] The country of Qatar bought the adjacent 12 East 73rd Street in 2017 to house the servants who were employed at 7–9 East 72nd Street.[16][59]

Reception[edit]

In 1900, Architectural Annual magazine described 7 and 9 East 72nd Street as "Enigmas: Hotels particuliers a New York – but not the French Quarter" in a picture caption.[48] The New-York Tribune said that "it was natural" for Flagg and Chambers to design 7 East 72nd Street in a similar style to 9 East 72nd Street and that "the proximity of these two buildings raises some lively thoughts about what the force of example may bring us to".[23] Christopher Gray of The New York Times wrote in 2011 that the house's design defined "the Beaux-Arts movement sweeping over New York at the turn of the century".[7]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 440. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
  2. ^ a b c "Gossip of the Week". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 61, no. 1564. March 5, 1898. p. 412 – via columbia.edu.
  3. ^ a b c "In the Real Estate Field; Collis P. Huntington Disposes of $600,000 Worth of Property -- Other Dealings and Auction Sales". The New York Times. January 28, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Architectural Record 1902, p. 54.
  5. ^ a b c d Arak, Joey (July 21, 2010). "Renovated Mega-Mansion Ready to Rule the Upper East Side". Curbed NY. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "7 East 72 Street, 10021". New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d Gray, Christopher (March 10, 2011). "Stirrings of a Throwback Kind". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  8. ^ a b c d Kathrens 2013, pp. 73–74.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Landmarks Preservation Commission 1977, p. 2.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kathrens 2013, p. 74.
  11. ^ a b c d e McGeveran, Tom (August 19, 2002). "Merde! Lycee Buys Toxic Dump". The New York Observer. p. 1. ProQuest 333515646.
  12. ^ a b c Architectural Record 1902, p. 55.
  13. ^ a b "Of Interest to the Building Trades". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 63, no. 1628. May 27, 1899. p. 997 – via columbia.edu.
  14. ^ a b Architectural Record 1902, p. 57.
  15. ^ a b c Kathrens 2013, p. 77.
  16. ^ a b c "Qatar is so filthy rich that even its servants have a $41M mansion". The Real Deal. July 3, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Qatar Is On an Upper East Side Townhouse Tear". The Observer. February 3, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  18. ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 1977, p. 1.
  19. ^ a b c d Kathrens 2013, p. 179.
  20. ^ a b Hevesi, Dennis (July 19, 2002). "Residential Real Estate; Turning 23 Homes Into a Mansion". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  21. ^ Hewitt, Mark Alan; Lemos, Kate; Morrison, William; Warren, Charles (2006). Carrère & Hastings architects. New York: Acanthus Press. pp. 354–355. ISBN 978-0-926494-42-8. OCLC 69423272.
  22. ^ "A Big Deal in Fifth-ave.: Denied That W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., is the Buyer Report That a House as Fine as Any in America is to Be Built at the South-east Corner of Seventy-third-st.--other Sales Brooklyn Sales". New-York Tribune. March 24, 1899. p. 11. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 574587143.
  23. ^ a b "New Houses in New-York: Recent Developments in Architecture Uptown the Desire for More Space and Light-- Homelike Mansions--doorways and Porches--ideas From Paris Some Examples of Recent Domestic Architecture". New-York Tribune. November 25, 1900. p. B8. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 570931502.
  24. ^ "Incidents in Society". New-York Tribune. November 28, 1899. p. 5. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  25. ^ "New-York Society". New-York Tribune. December 15, 1901. p. 10. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 571041410.
  26. ^ Child, F.S. (1909). Fairfield, Ancient and Modern: A Brief Account, Historic and Descriptive, of a Famous Connecticut Town. Fairfield Historical Society. p. 51. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  27. ^ Kathrens 2013, p. 76.
  28. ^ a b "72d Street Residence Sold". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 93, no. 2405. April 18, 1914. p. 687 – via columbia.edu; "The Real Estate Field; O.G. Jennings Trades Seventy-second Street Residence for Fifth Avenue Plot -- Greenwich Village Deal -- Sale on South Street -- Buyers in the Bronx -- Commercial Leases". The New York Times. April 15, 1914. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  29. ^ "Results at Auction". The New York Times. April 16, 1914. p. 15. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 97668916.
  30. ^ a b "Conveyances". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 93, no. 2405. April 18, 1914. p. 164 – via columbia.edu.
  31. ^ "The Real Estate Field; Five Washington Heights Apartments in Investment Deals -- Numismatic Society Gets Adjoining Lot -- Thirty-fifth Street Lease for Loft -- Suburban Buyers -- Many Country House Leases". The New York Times. May 20, 1914. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  32. ^ "Current Building Operations". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 96, no. 2492. December 18, 1915. p. 1043 – via columbia.edu.
  33. ^ a b "Fifth Avenue Corner in Trade". The Real Estate Record: Real estate record and builders' guide. Vol. 100, no. 2587. October 13, 1917. p. 472 – via columbia.edu.
  34. ^ a b c "Fifth Avenue Plot Traded". New-York Tribune. October 9, 1917. p. 3. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 575771430.
  35. ^ a b "5th Avenue Corner in $1,025,000 Trade". The Sun. October 9, 1917. p. 9. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  36. ^ "Benefit Concert Launches 1921 Program for Charity: Entertainment in Aid of Babies' Hospital of City of New York To Be Given To-night Heads Calendar of Events for the First Week of the New Year". New-York Tribune. January 2, 1921. p. C1. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 576323248.
  37. ^ "Dr. C. W. Flint Offered Syracuse Chancellorship". New-York Tribune. January 5, 1922. p. 11. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 576537036.
  38. ^ "$500,000 New Telephone Exchange for Brooklyn". New-York Tribune. January 11, 1923. p. 24. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1221607752.
  39. ^ a b c "East Side School Buys Two Houses; Lycee Francais Gets Noted Homes on E. 72d St". The New York Times. April 14, 1964. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  40. ^ "Henry Ingersoll Riker". The New York Times. November 15, 1927. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  41. ^ "Mary Jackson Riker Becomes a Bride in Incarnation Church". New York Herald Tribune. April 27, 1930. p. 23. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1113179374.
  42. ^ "Helene Beaudrias Weds Dr. J. L. Riker; Ceremony in House of Bride's Parents in Yonkers Performed by Father McQuade". The New York Times. January 31, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  43. ^ "Town Houses Sold on the East Side; Former Stillman Residence in a Resale--Apartment Buildings Figure in Deals Lexington Avenue House Sold Buys Apartment Building". The New York Times. June 14, 1945. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  44. ^ a b "Lycee Leases Mansion; French School Gets Additional Facilities on East 72d Street". The New York Times. August 1, 1960. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  45. ^ Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1995). New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York: Monacelli Press. p. 814. ISBN 1-885254-02-4. OCLC 32159240. OL 1130718M.
  46. ^ "Art Museum Today Opens New Exhibit". Newsday. August 21, 1957. p. 26. ISSN 2574-5298. ProQuest 884961422.
  47. ^ Talese, Gay (September 25, 1964). "Lycee Here Foster Discipline; High School class meeting yesterday in ornate setting in school building at 7 East 72d St.; Private School Bars Coddling Children or Their Parents". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  48. ^ a b Gray, Christopher (January 7, 2001). "Streetscapes/9 East 72nd Street; A School's Grand House That Could Be Private Again". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  49. ^ "Flying Whirlybirds & Whizzing Horses". Daily News. October 31, 1976. p. 1198. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  50. ^ "3 Townhouses Win Landmark Status". Daily News. January 12, 1977. p. 204. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  51. ^ "Realty News A Rash of New Building Projects". The New York Times. November 12, 1978. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  52. ^ Marino, Vivian (March 3, 2017). "East Side Mansion Tops February Home Sales". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  53. ^ Brozan, Nadine (December 15, 2002). "POSTINGS: New Home for Lycée Français on Upper East Side; A Design Inspired by Descartes". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  54. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (August 29, 2000). "Cashing In on a New Era of Opulence; School Seeks Home Buyers Who Want to Live Like Vanderbilts". The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  55. ^ a b Sherman, Gabriel (September 15, 2008). "Lycee Français Builds A Palace Apres Taking Bath". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  56. ^ a b Chizhik-Goldschmidt, Avital (February 1, 2024). "Why Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund Invested in Manhattan". The Real Deal. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  57. ^ Zuylen-Wood, Simon van (October 12, 2016). "The Landlord's Guide to Gentrifying NYC". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  58. ^ Wadler, Joyce (October 14, 2003). "Boldface Names". The New York Times. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  59. ^ Rosenberg, Zoe (July 3, 2017). "Qatar's $41M Upper East Side townhouse will serve as maids' housing: report". Curbed NY. Retrieved February 24, 2024.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

40°46′20.4″N 73°57′58.2″W / 40.772333°N 73.966167°W / 40.772333; -73.966167

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