Tom Kress

Tom Kress, artist and building designer passed away on April 18, 2025 at Ventura Community Memorial Hospital. He was 82. Tom earned his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1971 and an MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 1974 working with Howard Fenton and Gary H. Brown.

In his early career, Tom contributed to several iconic projects while working with John Carl Warner & Associated and other William L. Pereira & Associates, which included work on the White House in Washington, D.C.; UC Berkeley’s Moffitt Library; Stanford University dormitories; the Transamerica Building in San Francisco; and the LAX terminal.

On visiting Santa Barbara to build a new museum in what is now Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden, he quit the project and devoted his life to Santa Barbara. After a formative period with Paul Soderberg Architects, Tom launched his own practice in Montecito and Santa Barbara, designing more than 100 custom homes from 1970 until his passing. Locally, Tom designed 185 projects.
“Tom Kress came to my attention because of his ability to create architectural renderings that were artistically and proportionally nearly perfect. Tom was a real artist, a visionary, and a good man.”
 — Bob Taylor Tom was also a prolific painter. His work combined garden motifs with surrealism and opulence. He created a unique drawing system based on mathematics and symmetry, seen in murals for Unity Church (1976), and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish & Rectory series (1993).

He was a devout Catholic and a passionate sailor.

Tom will be remembered for his vision, craftsmanship, and the artful beauty he brought into the world.

A mass for the repose of Tom’s soul will be said at 4:30 p.m. May 31 at Our Lady of Mt Carmel. To view Tom’s artwork, go to https://www.livinggreen.com/tomkress.

Thanks go out to Mia “Malia” Kresser.