Architectural heritage rescue missions and real estate opportunities are often at odds. The newly listed Ramada House in Tucson, Arizona, which was designed by architect Judith Chafee in 1973 and completed in 1975, is a rare instance in which these purposes overlap.
Tour this Judith Chafee designed house on the market
Tucson locals have a fierce, protective loyalty regarding Chafee (1932-1998) and her legacy. And like many of the seminal architects’ homes, this masterpiece of regional desert modernism has changed hands startlingly few times. So, when real estate developers emerged as the only serious prospective buyers for the Ramada House over the years, as it was put on and off the market, concern grew about the four-bedroom, four-bathroom residence with its expansive, signature, traditional O'odham indigenous shade structure. Community members feared the house could be in danger of alteration beyond recognition or demolition, or that its multi-acre lot could be divided and developed, thus compromising the physical integrity and soul of the site.
A group of concerned neighbours in the Catalina Foothills devised a plan. They formed a consortium to buy the architectural gem, making this entity only the third owner in the property’s history. The intent was eventually to sell to another preservation-minded owner who would rightfully steward the landmark that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Enter a key member of this group: designer and gallerist Casey W Smith.
Smith, who grew up in Tucson and divides his time between southern Arizona and New York City, was eager to join the effort to 'ensure this local icon is safe. There are not many pieces of architecture in Tucson that so boldly display what makes them unique,' he explains. And yet tastes and lifestyles have evolved since the 1970s, meaning 'changes needed to be made'. He then began a ten-month renovation process to sensitively update the house and surrounding land.
The mortar-washed slump-block building is related and yet distinct from Chafee’s other Arizona dwellings that followed her return home in 1969 after graduating from Yale School of Architecture and working for Paul Rudolph, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and Eero Saarinen. (Robert AM Stern endorsed clients Jane and Peter Salomon’s choice of Chafee.) This house in particular has 'a presence that feels both inevitable and revolutionary', Christopher Domin and Kathryn McGuire write in Powerhouse: The Life and Work of Judith Chafee.
‘My perception of what should be built in the desert stems from having grown up in the desert. I grew up going up and down arroyos and knowing where it was cool and where the breezes blew. There was a lot of talk in my childhood home about traditional cultures here and respect for them’
Judith Chafee, from 'Powerhouse: The Life and Work of Judith Chafee'
Smith’s design process included researching Chafee’s archives held at the University of Arizona. While the climate demands of the desert drove much of her aesthetic and spatial programming, he found new ways to 'open things up and allow light to filter through. It’s a house that’s about ceremony, and the majesty of the light and the way the shadows move.'
Original features, such as what Smith describes as 'dusty oxblood' concrete-tile floors and doors, were repaired and restored, along with pronounced lintels and exposed timber posts indoors and out. Custom-milled pine-plank flooring based on existing materials in the upstairs bedrooms has replaced the ill-conceived carpeting on the main stairwell.
Other components of the refreshed palette reference Chafee’s ethos, rooted in her connection to the Sonoran Desert and the house’s 1970s sensibility. Smith selected a dark, earthy granite with a satin finish for the kitchen backsplash and countertops, with contemporary cabinetry that complements the original vertical grain Douglas fir.
The primary bathroom is clad in matte tadelakt plaster to keep the space 'as pure as possible'. Ancillary rooms located off the pool deck have been adapted into an additional guest suite. Smith also edited the landscaping on the protected parcel that has been reorganised from over eight acres to six.
With the renovation complete, Smith’s judiciously spare curation of art and decor is another testament to Chafee’s beloved status among a younger generation. At the moment, the house’s spaces function as a showcase of simpatico regional talents in multiple media. In addition to borrowing pieces from his own collections, Smith turned to his circle of art- and design-focused desert creatives in Tucson and beyond, including architect Axel Golden, Ingrain Objects, Zakaria Boucetta of Atelier BoPA, DUST Architects, New Mexico-based textile artist Rhiannon Griego, and Gino Belassen of Belhaus gallery in Phoenix. A large ‘Soleri’ bell, originally from Cosanti, that spent its previous tenure at Amangiri, hangs from the character-defining ramada shelter itself, as if anointing the home’s new era.
'I’m honoured to have had the latitude to do what I felt was needed,' Smith says. 'I keep finding myself popping over there at different hours to watch the sun, to be on the roof for sunset, to be there in the early mornings for sunrise, and experience how light moves throughout the house.' Despite this allure that Smith may never quite shake, it’s time for the next custodian to develop their own reverence for the Ramada House.
2801 E Camino Norberto, Tucson AZ 85718