Jonathan Card’s journey to architecture is as nuanced and layered as the buildings he designs. The Houston-born architect and founder of Card & Company, who manages offices in both San Antonio and Fredericksburg, grew up in Midland, where his interest in residential architecture first sparked.
“I had a lot of friends with great houses there,” he said of his West Texas roots. “I was also very spatially oriented and artistic as a child.” After the family moved to Fort Stockton, where he graduated from high school, he enrolled at Baylor University with the intention of studying law.
Midway through freshmen year, however, he pivoted plans. “It was kind of a calling,” he remembered. “I was happy at Baylor but disgruntled going back to school without a clear idea." Over the Christmas holiday, Card connected with an old friend who verbalized the young student’s deep-rooted design aspirations saying, “You should be an architect!” An epiphany he says he still remembers “clear as day.”
Lubbock, and more broadly West Texas where he’d made many memories with his family growing up, felt like a land of opportunity, after living in Midland and Fort Stockton. By the end of winter break, he’d left Waco in his rear view and set his sights on the architecture program at Texas Tech University.
Over the next twenty years, Card worked in earnest, beginning at firms in Lubbock before joining the team at Lake | Flato in San Antonio in 1998. He stayed at the latter for almost a decade, designing high-end residences and accruing experience, including helping master plan the city’s Historic Pearl Brewery.
Later, he founded an architecture firm called Urbanist Design, but in 2015, life led him to Austin’s award-winning practice, Clayton & Little (now Clayton Korte), where he worked as Director of Design while opening their San Antonio office. Among his projects there, Card assisted in master planning Fredericksburg’s Albert Hotel, a job that invigorated his interest in the Texas Hill Country.
The proverbial winds turned again, however, on a fortuitous weekend trip to his client, the H.E. Butt Foundation’s family camp, in Kerrville. There, he met the leadership team planning the Foundation’s imminent expansion to San Antonio. For Card, that encounter felt like a crossing stars opportunity, and after careful consideration, he decided to once again open his own studio.
Since 2017, Card & Company has worked closely with the H.E. Butt Foundation on its capital improvement programs, including camp sites and the development of a striking San Antonio office on Sunset Road. The latter boasts a dramatic roof canopy that stretches over the street front entrance, connecting two community buildings. A timber-framed office wing borders a courtyard flowering with native plants, and inside, sunlight dapples through the lobby skylights, clerestories, and studio windows, as if sifting through trees.
Along the way, the company has solidified its reputation as an avatar among San Antonio’s new wave of architecture firms. Today, their design team of seven oversees a blend of both commercial and residential projects, along with adaptive reuse, and master planning work.
Most recently, in April 2025, the architect opened a second studio in Fredericksburg, lured by the opportunities out west. So far, their projects range from custom, high end residential work at places like Boot Ranch and Hye Springs Ranch to builder level projects and ranch compounds, with an appetite to build upon the firm’s portfolio of food, beverage, and hospitality gigs, given the rich eco-system of wineries, breweries, and distilleries in the area.
When it comes to aesthetics, Card is careful not to pigeonhole himself. While he leans into local materials like native wood and stone, along with sustainable elements such as rainwater collection systems and thoughtful solar orientation, ultimately, his firm takes pride in its collaborative, people-driven approach. Understanding each client’s personality and priorities is par for the Card & Company course. “When I see our buildings, I see our clients, because each one is tailored to them,” he explained. “Our process is for people that want something bespoke, and our expertise, but they want to be a part of it too.”
Though he rarely has time for it, the father of four is also a trained singer, and enjoys singing in his spare time, something he’s done for years not only with the church choir but at university chorales, and swanky San Antonio haunts such as Bohanan’s steakhouse and Jazz, TX. Albeit different in nature, Card says there are numerous analogies between the built world and his vocal vocation. Like architecture, singing involves learnedness and a dedication to study, along with soul and passion. At some point, however, “you put all the notes away and it comes from here,” he said smiling, motioning to his heart. “That’s where I am with design now too.”
While Card & Company Architects' team of architects, interior architects, designers, and collaborators is rooted in San Antonio and Fredericksburg, you will find their projects all around Texas and elsewhere. Through context based architecture, purposeful space making, and crafted details, Card and Company creates a legacy of value for their clients that will endure for future generations.
Card & Company Architects San Antonio location is 401 E. Houston St., Suite 400, San Antonio, TX, 78205. Their Fredericksburg location is 150 East Main Street, Suite 203, Fredericksburg, TX in the Chase Bank building. Visitors are encouraged to park in the rear parking lot behind the building. Contact Card and Company Architects by phone at 210-201-6393, or email hola@card-and-company.com. Visit Card & Company Architects online at Card-and-Company.com.
“When I see our buildings, I see our clients, because each one is tailored to them,” (Jonathan Card) explained.
Today, their design team of seven oversees a blend of both commercial and residential projects, along with adaptive reuse, and master planning work.