diff --git a/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php b/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php
index 0c165a62..eb1a2632 100644
--- a/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php
+++ b/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php
@@ -37,7 +37,20 @@ final class ArcanistSubversionAPI extends ArcanistRepositoryAPI {
   }
 
   public function getMetadataPath() {
-    return $this->getPath('.svn');
+    static $svn_dir = null;
+    if ($svn_dir === null) {
+      // from svn 1.7, subversion keeps a single .svn directly under
+      // the working copy root.  However, we allow .arcconfigs that
+      // aren't at the working copy root.
+      foreach (Filesystem::walkToRoot($this->getPath()) as $parent) {
+        $possible_svn_dir = Filesystem::resolvePath('.svn', $parent);
+        if (Filesystem::pathExists($possible_svn_dir)) {
+          $svn_dir = $possible_svn_dir;
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return $svn_dir;
   }
 
   protected function buildLocalFuture(array $argv) {
diff --git a/src/workingcopyidentity/ArcanistWorkingCopyIdentity.php b/src/workingcopyidentity/ArcanistWorkingCopyIdentity.php
index 3ab892a7..15e48a54 100644
--- a/src/workingcopyidentity/ArcanistWorkingCopyIdentity.php
+++ b/src/workingcopyidentity/ArcanistWorkingCopyIdentity.php
@@ -105,15 +105,37 @@ final class ArcanistWorkingCopyIdentity {
       '.hg',
       '.svn',
     );
+    $found_meta_dir = false;
     foreach ($vc_dirs as $dir) {
-      $local_path = Filesystem::resolvePath(
-        $dir.'/arc/config',
+      $meta_path = Filesystem::resolvePath(
+        $dir,
         $this->projectRoot);
-      if (Filesystem::pathExists($local_path)) {
-        $file = Filesystem::readFile($local_path);
-        if ($file) {
-          $this->localConfig = json_decode($file, true);
-          break;
+      if (Filesystem::pathExists($meta_path)) {
+        $found_meta_dir = true;
+        $local_path = Filesystem::resolvePath(
+          'arc/config',
+          $meta_path);
+        if (Filesystem::pathExists($local_path)) {
+          $file = Filesystem::readFile($local_path);
+          if ($file) {
+            $this->localConfig = json_decode($file, true);
+          }
+        }
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (!$found_meta_dir) {
+      // Try for a single higher-level .svn directory as used by svn 1.7+
+      foreach (Filesystem::walkToRoot($this->projectRoot) as $parent_path) {
+        $local_path = Filesystem::resolvePath(
+          '.svn/arc/config',
+          $parent_path);
+        if (Filesystem::pathExists($local_path)) {
+          $file = Filesystem::readFile($local_path);
+          if ($file) {
+            $this->localConfig = json_decode($file, true);
+          }
         }
       }
     }