Philbrook Museum

History

In 1926, Oklahoma oil giants Waite & Genevieve Phillips hired Kansas City architect Edward Buehler Delk to design their new Italian Renaissance villa. Construction on the villa was begun the same year by the John Long Company of Kansas City and completed in 1927 as “Villa Philbrook”, complete with 72 rooms and 23 acres of grounds. In 1938 the Villa Philbrook was given to the city of Tulsa by Waite Phillips in hopes that the villa would be used for art cultural purposes. 1939 Villa Philbrook was opened as the Philbrook Museum of Art and is located at 2727 South Rockford Road and houses exhibitions from around the world and features La Villa Restaurant at Philbrook and The Museum Shop at Philbrook.