Architect Ron Wommack Remembered
Dallas and Texas Architect
December 4, 1950 – June 30, 2024
Ron Wommack was an architectural force in Dallas both as an architect and as a person. He was born in December 1950 and died June 30, 2024. Ron Wommack was a big rugged man with a beard and the eyeglasses of an architect. One could imagine him growing up in Abilene or living in Fort Worth or obtaining his architecture degree from Texas Tech where he was honored as a distinguished alum.
I always thought of Ron Wommack as the artist James Surls of architecture. James Surls would attack a tree with a chainsaw and create a sculpture that felt like poetry. Ron Wommack would attack a warehouse and make it into lofts or an art gallery that felt like architectural poetry.
The first year that Preservation Dallas gave out restoration awards, I was on the selection committee. Ron’s project in Deep Ellum was the highlight of my day reviewing preservation projects. It won the Preservation Dallas award. The house on Bermuda that Ron Wommack designed, close to the Santa Fe Trail on the way to White Rock Lake, has always been one of my favorite homes. Here he attacked a short block of modest homes that dead-ended into overgrown public land. The home Ron Wommack designed here created a sense of place while still submitting to the neighborhood and landscape. Whenever I think of this modern home, I imagine it is 80% porches. The front entrance was a long, screened porch. The kitchen flowed into a screened porch. The second-floor bedrooms and landing opened to a long, screened porch. Every one of these porches allowed one to look into the trees and down across the land to the Santa Fe Trail in the distance. Here an urban location felt as country as the very urbane Ron Wommack sometimes looked.
When Ron Wommack was president of the Dallas Architecture Forum, he invited me to moderate a panel that consisted of Ron Wommack, Frank Welch and a young now award-winning architect Braxton Werner. I was thrilled to be part of the conversation and that Ron included me in the Tex-Mex dinner at Avila’s Mexican Restaurant where we talked about architecture including everyone’s pick for the worst house in Dallas. Ron was always curious and traveled around the world to see architecture. He was always generous with his thoughts on architecture and design. He was also very involved in the Dallas community, and his attendance always made it worthwhile for me to show up at a lecture or an event when Ron was there.
Ron Wommack, before he established his own firm, worked with two of the most iconic modern architects in Dallas – Frank Welch and Bud Oglesby. What a great introduction to architecture for Ron Wommack to be able to spread the family tree of great architects and architectural influences.
Like many of Dallas’ finest architects, he was influenced by Bud Oglesgy whom he worked for early in his career. He combines the sophisticated knowledge of natural light that was a trademark of Oglesby, but the raw honest materials that reflects his West Texas upbringing. This combination is most apparent in some of the finest warehouse loft conversions in the city.
Example of Homes Ron Wommack Designed
Commerce Street Townhomes, Dallas, Texas
Architect, Ron Wommack has had a long and very productive career that has culminated this year with a series of high profile successes. Texas Society of Architects has presented him with two TSA awards, one for his Commerce Street Townhomes and the other for his McKinney Farm House.
Ron Wommack Dallas Garden House
Ron Wommack designed a home in the spirit of the neighborhood. It is precisely in scale with the 50 to 80 year old homes around it. The garage is detached, as are most of the original neighborhood garages, and the hardy plank is white to relate to the other neighborhood structures.
