Judith Chafee

Judith Davidson Chafee (1932–1998) was an American architect known for her work on residential buildings in Arizona and for being a professor of architecture at the University of Arizona. She was a recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome during the middle of her career and was the first woman from Arizona to be named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Chafee was born in Chicago in 1932. Her mother, Christina Chafee, had studied archaeology and anthropology. Chafee's biological father died before she was born, but had maintained investments for his family. The family moved to Tucson, Arizona when Chafee was five years old, shortly after her mother remarried.

Chafee was educated at many institutions. She attended a boarding school in Chicago in the late 1940s, earned a visual arts degree at Bennington College in 1954, and enrolled in Yale University as the only woman in her architecture course.

The Ramada House

Chafee's architectural work is predominantly located in Arizona. The Ramada House in Tucson is a modern residential building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure has both private rooms and public areas, and features a large shade structure constructed of rounded lengths of wood and two-by-fours.