1298 Other Bartlesville sites [Saturday]

As I mentioned before, in the morning we met in the lobby and walked to the Bartlesville Community Center designed by William Wesley Peters (1912-1991), a sharp (or round) contrast of curves, circles, and ovals. For a small town of 35,000 Bartlesville has a wonderful musical and artistic life. It is the home of OK Mozart established in 1985, and many home-grown and out-of-town shows. The 1800 seat theater is marvelous.

Next we toured the art museum which is in the Price Tower. In addition to many Wrightean displays of furniture, there was a visiting photographic exhibit of architectural photography. Then it was back on the bus. We had lunch at a locally renowned restaurant, Dink's Pit Bar-B-Que(really yummy), that our driver Bob knew about (local boy from Fort Smith). Then we set out to see if we could spot another home designed by Wright for Price's son, but the current owners don't allow visitors.

More welcoming was the the director of operations at Oklahoma Weslyan College where we toured La Quinta Mansion, a home built in the 1930s for another oilman, H.V. Foster. He made his money in oil leases with the Osage Indians. However, it was only used briefly as a home, and since 1939 has been the main building of several different schools, OWC being the most recent (a holiness denominational college). I was particularly interested in this tour because it housed the library collection (really poor and dated in my opinion) and they were shifting it to allow the mansion to be restored in certain areas. Having shifted probably over 100,000 volumes in my library career for either dumping, wall painting or title changes, I could empathize.
Next we toured the Frank Phillips Home. It was modest as mansions go (26 rooms), but the Phillips (as in Phillips 66) had two other homes. The grounds, which included a four car garage with a museum and servant quarters and a greenhouse, were lovely. It had remained in the Phillips family a long time, but is now maintained by the historical society.

I don't know what you would have done after a day of touring in 100+ degree heat, but I went back to our fabulous FLW room and took a nap to prepare for our lovely night out (actually up, to the 15th floor) at the Copper Restaurant + Bar. Our three tables of congenial tour friends enjoyed a dinner of salmon and chicken on rice and a chocolate dessert that was to die for. If you are ever in Bartlesville, this is the place to eat, trust me.