Villa Philbrook was a child of the Twenties. World War I was over. Women could vote. It was a time of flappers, rumble seats, prohibition, bootleggers and five-cent Cokes. More than that, in Tulsa the Twenties smelled of oil and resounded with money. In 1926 Edward Buehler Delk (1885-1956), a Kansas City architect, was hired to design an Italian Renaissance villa on 25 acres by oilman Waite Phillips. Delk skillfully interpreted Renaissance styles in the most fashionable manner of the day and was hired in a burst of commissions with three major projects at once: Villa Philbrook, Villa Philmonte and the Philtower office building. This impressive home was completed in 1927. Friends say that the Phillipses built the villa as a place where their two children could entertain friends. When they moved in, daughter Helen was sixteen, son Elliott was ten.