The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 202th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals, with the idea of selling to African Americans.
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.
At 139 Bates St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold One-Half of 139 Bates St NW to joint tenants Palmer R. Berry and Joseph C. Coleman.
- December 1950 Berry and Coleman borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other half of 139 Bates St NW to Alice L. Ferguson and Isaac H. Hodge.
- December 1950 Ferguson and Hodge borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- May 1953 Coleman and Berry lost their half to foreclosure and the property was returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
- May 1953 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the half lost by Berry and Coleman to Willie and Margaret E. McCrimmon.
- May 1953 the McCrimmons borrowed $3,274.21 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- March 1958 the McCrimmons lost their half and it was returned to Evans, Levin and new partner Harry A. Badt.
- March 1958, as part of a larger property package, the Badts transfer interest of the property to Nathan Levin’s family.
- September 1959 Ferguson and Hodge lost their half of 139 Bates to foreclosure and ownership returned to Evans, Levin and Harry A. Badt.
- September 1959, as part of a larger property package, the Badts transferred interest of the property to Nathan Levin’s family.
- November 1961, as part of a larger property package, Evans, Badt, their wives and the Levin family sold their interest in 139 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- July 1970 Basiliko sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
So this address had fit the pattern of properties being sold then those buyers losing their homes to foreclosure and then the property winding up in the hands of a man whom the Washington Post called a slum lord. Because of the way he handled his rentals he was forced/pressured to sell many of his Bates Street properties.