The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Then there was the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.
So let’s see the pattern in action for 230 Q St NW:
- 1/18/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell One-Half of 230 Q St NW to Emma C. and Edward N. Holmes.
- 1/18/1951 the Holmes borrow $3,625 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- 2/14/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell other One-Half of 230 Q St NW to June R. and Norman M. Morgan.
- 2/14/1951 the Morgans borrow $3,625 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- 8/13/1954 the Morgans lost their half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
- June 1959 (recorded in August) Evans, new partner Harry A. Badt, their wives (for legal reasons), and relatives of Levin sell the remaining half as part of a large package to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- 3/8/1976 George Basiliko’s company sells the other half interest to the Holmes.
So the Holmes were the lucky ones.