THE CONCEPT OF SURSUM CORDA

SURSUM CORDA is Latin for "lift up your hearts." It expresses a spirit
which has been the objective of the many persons, members of this
community, volunteers and professionals, who have designed and created
the town houses and community center which make up this
new community.

THE HOUSING UNITS

SURSUM CORDA believes that families need privacy and complete control of their own living spaces; therefore, SURSUM CORDA has adopted a plan in which two general types of housing units are offered. In one type, three-story town houses will contain 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-bedroom units with their own enclosed patio and garden space. In the other type, two-story town houses, containing 2- and 3-bedroom units, with large balconies, will be placed over one-story dwelling units which will have one bedroom. The 2- and 3-bedroom "piggy back" town houses will be reached by an exterior stairway, shared between two houses. The onebedroom units will be entered at ground level through the fenced patio.

This plan has been adopted because it will result in a housing group with no corridors, no public stairs or elevators, no intrusion on privacy, and very much better soundproofing between units.

SURSUM CORDA will consist of 199 new dwelling units

44 one-bedroom apartment units, each at ground level, with its own fenced patio and individual entrance, including

30 small units with efficiency type kitchens

14 larger, full kitchen units

155 town houses, including

30 two-bedroom "piggy back" units (two story)
14 three-bedroom "piggy back" units (two story)
25 three-bedroom units (three-story)
46 four-bedroom units (three-story)
20 five-bedroom units (three-story)
20 six-bedroom units (three-story)

These will be on 51⁄2 acres of ground, located between M and L
Streets, and between 1st Street, Northwest, and the old Sibley
Hospital site.

SURSUM CORDA believes that a combination of factors will bring
about lower operating expenses than are generally experienced in
moderate income housing projects. For one thing, the design of
SURSUM CORDA units should reduce maintenance costs. There are no
public hallways, stairways or elevators to maintain. Each tenant has his
own individual entrance. For another thing, SURSUM CORDA believes
that the residents will take pride in their apartments and town houses,
and take better care of them than has sometimes been the case in other
housing projects. This is particularly true in SURSUM CORDA where
the sponsors propose to work out with the residents a plan under which
those families who desire to do so may, if they or their children remain
in the town house throughout the period of years in which the
mortgage is paid off, taking good care of their home, acquire the
ownership of the home by having all rent payments credited to purchase
of the home. This means that in SURSUM CORDA, without any down
payment, a family can acquire and become the owner of their own home
by being regular in paying their rent, living in that home for the full
period of the mortgage and taking pride in it and the community of
which it is a part. Another reason why SURSUM CORDA should be less
expensive to maintain than other projects is the fact that SURSUM
CORDA's officers serve without pay or allowances for expenses, and
many of the administrative services needed for the project are being
contributed by the sponsoring group, including community
organizations.

If SURSUM CORDA in fact proves that it can operate at a lower
expense than other projects have experienced in the past, the savings will
be passed on to the residents in the form of reduced rents.

THE DESIGN OF SURSUM CORDA TOWN HOUSES AND APARTMENTS. The architect's drawings which follow show the design of the front

east elevation

Now let's look at a side view and
floor plan of these units.
Remember, the ground floor is a
one-bedroom apartment. These
come in two sizes. A small
apartment with an efficiency type
kitchen, and a larger apartment
with a full kitchen. Over the
small unit is a two-bedroom town
house; over the larger unit is a

three-bedroom town house. Here
are the side view drawings and
floor plan of the smaller

apartment-town house units:

Cross section view and floor plan
of efficiency 1-bedroom

apartment and two-bedroom
town house above it.