Creative Impulse Spurred Texan to Architecture Career

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For Jack Price, a new principal in the Santa Monica office of architecture firm KTGY Group, his career was born from compromise.

“I kind of backed into architecture to tell you the truth,” said the 56-year-old Lone Star State native. “My interest in school was fine arts. I grew up in College Station, Texas, where Texas A&M is located, so that was the convenient place to go to school. The issue that I had was that it didn’t have a fine arts

program.”

While going through the class catalog, architecture jumped out at him as a subject that would satisfy his creative impulses. The business aspect was also attractive for Price, who ran his own bicycle shop while he was in school.

He was forced to compromise again, however, when he graduated in 1974 with a degree in environmental design. The United States was in a recession and jobs of any stripe were tough to find. Price ended up working for a firm outside architecture for a few years, biding his time until the economy recovered. He was hardly bitter about his time spent there, though.

“It turned out to be a great experience,” he said. “I learned how architectural drawings are used once they leave the architect’s hands, and I think that helped me become a better architect.”

Price is now bringing his experience to bear on KTGY’s new focus on urban development. His current project is the Village at Santa Monica, a mixed-use residential and retail space along Ocean Boulevard.

Price lives with his wife, Julie, and two stepsons in Westlake Village; he also has a son and daughter from a previous marriage. In his spare time, he likes to play golf, paint and take photographs.

The former bike shop owner also continues to indulge his passion for cycling. Price this summer will participate, for the fourth time, in the NGM California Coast Classic, an eight-day, San Francisco-to-Los Angeles fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation.

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