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.

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.

[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.

[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] 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.

[6] 7 East 72nd Street was originally constructed for Oliver Gould Jennings, who served on the boards of Bethlehem Steel, McKesson & Robbins, and National Fuel Gas.

[25] In addition to their 72nd Street residence, the Jenningses had a country estate named Mailands in Fairfield, Connecticut.

[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.

[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.

[35] The house was offered as partial payment for a site that Gerard owned on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 96th Street.

[ii][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.

[46] The house hosted exhibits during the late 1950s, such as showcases of items from the museum's collection;[47] works by Guggenheim International Award winners;[48] works from contemporary European painters;[49] and artwork by Marcel Duchamp and his older brothers Raymond and Jacques.

[52] The Lycée Français de New York, a French-language school, leased 7 East 72nd Street from Sterling J. Boos in August 1960.

[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.

[56] By the late 1970s, the houses at 7 and 9 East 72nd Street contained Lycée Français's kindergarten through fourth-grade classes.

[11] After Lycée Français 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.

[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.

[11][62] The purchaser of the buildings was Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, then the Emir of Qatar,[5][63] who reportedly beat out the developer Donald Trump and an unknown bidder when he agreed to acquire the properties in August 2002.

[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.

[62] 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][65] 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.