WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 38 O Street NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals.

photo of property

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 starting in 1951. 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.

Let’s look at 38 O St NW:

  • 3/19/1951 Evans, Levin, Taube sell half of 38 O St NW to Kanie and Beulah Pendarvis
  • 3/19/1951 the Pendarvis borrow $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • 4/20/1951 Evans, Levin, Taube sell the other half of 38 O St NW to Joseph E and Gladys V. Dorsey.
  • 4/20/1951 the Dorseys borrow $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • July 1956 (recorded in October) the Pendarvis lost their half to foreclosure and that part of the property returned to Evans and Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • 1958 The Badts transfer their interest to Nathan Levin’s family as part of a larger property package.
  • 8/5/1959 the Evans, Taubes, Levin family, and Badts sell half of the property to Sophia and George Basiliko, as part of a larger property package.
  • March 1951 (recorded in October) the Dorseys paid off their loan and own their half free and clear.
  • November 1976 Joseph E and Gladys V. Dorsey sell/transfer their half of the property to Alvin L. Dorsey.
  • April 1978 Basiliko sells his half of the property to Albert James Paul Jr.
  • April 1978 Paul borrows $6K from trustees Leonard C Collings and Richard L. Sugarman.
  • February 1989 Albert James Jr and Joyce A. Robinson-Paul (same as the Green Party candidate?) buy the other half of 38 O St NW from Alvin and Elizabeth A. Dorsey.

It appears Basiliko was not forced to sell this property to DC RLA and the whole house eventually belonged to the current owners.