Philbrook: Italianate-Style Villa

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we tour a 20th-century European-influenced estate in Oklahoma’s ‘Green Country.’

The large steel-framed house has reinforced concrete walls covered in a stucco mix that glitters with ground white marble. The rear of the mansion, which overlooks impressive gardens from a hilltop, features a loggia with five arches supported by Corinthian columns. The roof is covered in terracotta tiles. Accenting the stucco façade on the corners, doors, and windows, is Minnesota-quarried limestone. Kit Leong/Shutterstock

Instead of being lost to the ravages of time, many historic homes throughout the world become public museums. Such is the case with Philbrook in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Once referred to as Villa Philbrook, the private home on 25 acres is now a living history site, where visitors can tour the house and grounds, as well as an art museum. The museum exhibits around 16,000 artifacts of American, Native American, and European art.

While at first glance, the mansion and its surrounding French, English, and Italian-inspired gardens appears as if it’s situated somewhere in Europe. However, oilman Waite Phillips (1883–1964) had it built from 1926 to 1927 for his wife and their two children. Tulsa was once a western ranching territory but in the 1920s, it became the “oil capital of the world.”