In the latest in our series on people and their favorite spaces, architect Page Repp shares the home he built as a student project. Story and photos by Gabby Ferreira
Page Repp's student project has turned into a family home.
"My senior year, I knew that I wanted to design and build something for my senior [architecture] project. I had a lot on the far west side of town. I went out there to make the final negotiation and it fell through. I was driving back to school, super bummed because my project wasn't going to go through. I would have to come up with something else on short notice and I didn't know what I was going to do. Maybe I wasn't going to graduate. Then I drove by on Speedway and saw a 'For Sale' sign here.
"I was designing the project for affordable housing. I never intended to live here, but I built the 1500 square feet for $54,000. It was so affordable that I didn't have a choice but to live here. I sold my other house, moved in here, and have been here ever since. I love the neighborhood. It's close to downtown, it's close to campus, and it’s close to 
the freeway. We've done a lot to help improve it. I was the neighborhood president for probably ten years. I've done a lot for and with the neighborhood. I really like the area, neighborhood, and location but as my daughter Ramona gets older, the writing's on the wall. We will have to pull up stakes sooner rather than later because we're going to want to be in a different school district.
Page Repp
"I have a very strong personal attachment to this house. It was my senior project, so that's huge. It's the foundation for a lot of our business that we have now. I designed and built it, it got published in the paper, and then literally every client we had for five years said, 'I remember seeing that house in the paper'. Some of our clients became repeat clients. This house led to relationships with other people in town. I did this, I built the house next door, and then I bought the property across the street and did some rentals there.
"This is the house I lived in when I met my wife, this is the house that Ramona came home to. I am as attached to this house as much as anyone could be. It's all here for me. Most of it I built with my own hands. I love it, I'm proud of it. I love how it's evolving over time."
* Page Repp is the president of Tucson-based architecture firm Repp Mclain Design + Construction. He is also the architect for and part owner of Sidecar, a new cocktail bar opening this month in midtown Tucson. Learn more about Sidecar in our feature in this issue, All The Young Dudes.
