Month: April 2023

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 207 P Street NW

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.

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. 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 see how the history of 207 P St NW and see if/how it fits the pattern:

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold half of 207 P St NW to Jessie and Douglas Holmes.
  • January 1951 the Holmes borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 207 P St NW to Annie M. and James Holder.
  • January 1951 the Holders borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • October 1952 the Holders lost their half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
  • October 1952, Evans, Levin, and Taube sell the formerly foreclosed half of 207 P St NW to Ethel V. and Alonzo T. Spruill.
  • October 1952 the Spruills borrowed $3,481.20 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • April 1957 the Spruills lost their half to foreclosure and partners Evans, Taube and Harry A. Badt get the property via an auction.
  • June 1957 the Holmes lost their half to foreclosure and the partners Evans, Taube and Harry A. Badt get the property via an auction.
  • April 1957 (recorded July 1958), as part of a larger property package, the Badts (Harry & wife), transferred a one-half interest in 207 P St NW to Levin’s survivors.
  • June 1957 (recorded July 1958), as part of a larger property package, the Badts (Harry & wife), transferred a one-half interest in 207 P St NW to Levin’s survivors.
  • March 1959 (recorded June 1959), Evans, Taube, the Levin survivors, and the Badts, as part of a larger property package, sold 207 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • At some point between 1972 and 1978 the Basilikos sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

Let’s check our BINGO card. Sold half of a house, check and check. Foreclosure, check and check. Sold to Basilikos who then sold to DC RLA, check and check.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 133 Bates Street NW

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.

photo of property

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 133 Bates St NW to Mabel Y. and George McDonald.
  • January 1951 the McDonalds borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 133 Bates St NW to L. Roscoe Evans.
  • January 1951 Evans borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1952 the McDonalds sold their half back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • January 1952 the McDonalds were released from their mortgage.
  • May 1952 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold one-half of the property to Kinch Fennell.
  • May 1952 Fennell borrowed $2,587.90 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1953 Fennell lost his half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
  • January 1954 Evans, Levin, and Taube sell one-half of the property to John S. and Louise Battle.
  • January 1954 the Battles borrowed $3,087.29 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • April 1954 Roscoe Evans sold his half back to Evans, Levin, and Taube.
  • June 1954 L. Roscoe Evans was released from his mortgage.
  • June 1958 the Battles lost their half to foreclosure and it was returned to Evans, Taube, and new partner Harry A. Badt via an auction.
  • June 1958, as part of a larger property package, Harry Badt & his wife transfer their interest in one half of the property to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
  • March 1959, as part of another large property package, the Colonial Investment team (Evans, Badt, their wives, and Levin’s survivors) sell 133 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • Sometime between 1972 and 1980 George Basiliko transferred/sold 133 to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

Looking at the above timeline and getting out our Bates Area bingo cards we have the property that was divided in half and sold to two different households; there were two foreclosures; the property was sold to the Basilikos and eventually it wound up in the hands of the DC RLA. It hits all the common beats for former WSIC property.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 135 Bates Street NW

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.

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. 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.

Now let us look at the history of 135 Bates St NW post-WSIC:

  • December 1950 Evans, Levin and Taube sold half of 135 Bates St NW to Helen M. and Nathaniel Lee.
  • December 1950 the Lees borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other half of 135 Bates St NW to married woman, Mamie S. Green.
  • January 1951 the Mrs. Green borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1952 Mrs. Green sold her half to Lorene Ruth and Benjamin Randolph.
  • August 1954 the Lees lost their half of 135 Bates St NW to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube via an auction.
  • September 1959 Mrs. Green (in turn the Randolph family) lost their half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans and Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt via an auction.
  • September 1959 as part of a larger property package, partner Harry Badt & his wife transfer half of their interest in the property to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
  • November 1961, as part of a larger package the Colonial Investment team (Evans, Badt, their wives, and Levin’s survivors) sell their interest in 135 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • Sometime before 1978 George Basiliko transferred/sold 135 Bates to the Bates Streets Associates Incorporated, which has some ties to the District of Columbia government (135 Bates St NW mentioned in this WP article). Not exactly a sale to DC RLA, but close-ish enough as RLA chose the Bates Street Associates Inc to renovate properties such as 135 Bates.

Getting back to the common themes found in these histories we have half of the property sold to two different households; a couple of foreclosures and a sell off to George Basiliko who then dumps the property.

WSIC-1950s Sell Off- George Basiliko

This is a book I never finished and I think I might have thrown out in my move from DC to Maryland, Family Properties: How the Struggle Over Race and Real Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America. It had a lot of information and told a story of unfairness in white real estate investors selling properties in a former Jewish neighborhood to African Americans. The unfairness was that the buyers had really bad contracts, the houses were in poor shape and the buyers were set up to fail.

Until I started looking at the great sell off of Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) with 43-45 Bates Street NW, I thought such a thing was a corrupt Chicago thing. Nope. It happened here.

Prior to looking at this I’d been doing my Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle series and most things looked like they were on the up and up. Even prior to the records I found in the Recorder of Deeds on-line site, starting in the 1920s, I was aware of Black families in Truxton Circle who owned their homes, if not several other properties. They borrowed from financial institutions, such as the Perpetual Building Association and passes down or sold their homes in the natural course of living. Sometimes there was the odd foreclosure.

But this. This looked like a scam to me.

They sold half. HALF. Of the property to a buyer, whom I will assume was African American because in the 1950s, Truxton Circle was overwhelmingly Black. They all used the same lenders, Levin and Weightman. Then in a few years the property would go into foreclosure and would get sold to a man the Washington Post called a slum lord, George Basiliko. If the Black buyer managed to avoid foreclosure, for some reason they would eventually sell their half to George Basiliko.

June 22, 1959 George and Sophia Basiliko purchased a package of properties from a party of interests associated with the original three business men who purchased almost all the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company rentals. This is captured in documents #1959019387, 1959019395, 1959019388, 1959019389. And more in an August 5, 1959 document # 1959024641. These accounted for about 122 properties. And there were more packaged properties.

I’m not going to go into detail in this post as there are a lot of properties in documents 1959019387 to 1959019389, 1959019395 and 1959024641. If you read this blog, all three of you, there are many individual properties where all or half of it fall into Basiliko’s hands.

Then a load of federal money, laundered through the District of Columbia government, flooded into Basiliko’s pockets in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As seen in several posts, the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) purchased poorly maintained Truxton Circle properties from Basiliko. In 1969 for a US House Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Home Financing Practices and Procedures an article about Basiliko was submitted. Basiliko came up a lot in the hearing.

The RLA, which got its funding from the US government (remember Home Rule doesn’t come until 1973), bought out Basiliko. It can be argued that he was able to off load the properties for far more than what they were worth. The DC government in the form of the RLA was a more generous buyer than any private investor buyer.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 16 O Street NW

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.

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. 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 we’re going to see what happened to 16 O St NW and see if/how it fits the pattern:

  • February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold half of 16 O St NW to Clifford J. Bagnell.
  • February 1951 Mr. Bagnell borrowed $2,725 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other half of 16 O St NW to Gertrude and James Stancil.
  • February 1951 the Stancils borrowed $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • June 1956 the Stancils lost their half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt via auction.
  • June 1956, as part of a larger property package, Harry Badt and his wife Jennie, transferred their interest in the property to Nathan Levins’ survivors.
  • June 1959 as part of a larger property package, Badt, Evans and Taube, and their wives, along with Nathan Levin’s survivors sell off their interest in 16 O St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • March 1962, widower Clifford J. Bagnell was released from his mortgage debt.
  • July 1971 the Basilikos sold their half of 16 O St NW to the Housing System Development and Construction Corp. as part of a larger property package.

Following Bagnell’s ownership into the 1980s there are some documents about condemnation and they are directed towards Bagnell and James Dale Davidson at an address in College Park, MD. Hunting Mr. Bagnell down I discovered he died May 1, 1963. His niece and sister-in-law were the only ones named as his survivors.

So there was one foreclosure, check. Part was sold to George Basiliko, check and I don’t this the Housing System Dev. and Construction Corp had anything to do with RLA so, that’s a no.

1957 Church Survey: Shiloh Baptist Church

In 1957 there was as survey of churches in the Northwest Urban Renewal Area, which included Shaw, Downtown, and the area near Union Station. To learn more about the 1957 Church Survey read my previous posts, The Uniqueness of the 1957 Church Survey and Church Survey Northwest Urban Renewal Area October 1957.

I think this is the last of the 1957 Church Survey churches.

photo of property

Shiloh. At the corner of 9th and P St NW, it has been a major player in the neighborhood, for good and ill. When I think of the buildings left to rot on their block, fighting liquor licenses (no need to support, that’s like asking the Mormons to support a coffee shop, no.) and parking. They also host VIPs who need to check off ‘visit to African American church’ on their list. I have fond memories of muckty-mucks visiting from the Clintons, the Bushes and Mayor for Life on his post prison tour.

Let’s look at Shiloh in 1957:

CS 13 Shiloh Baptist by Mm Inshaw

I feel I should mention the main building burnt down in the 1990s maybe. So that explains why it looks so new.

Shiloh, like Greater New Bethel Baptist, is a large African American church with over a thousand members showing up to services every Sunday.  Also like Greater New Bethel, very few of their members live in the NW Urban Renewal Area (see above map). So it has been a commuter church for over 60 years. But it had no parking.

I wonder where all those members parked?

Before I get myself in trouble with the aunts who attend Shiloh, I’m going to stop.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 131 Bates Street NW

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.

photo of property

The history of 131 Bates St NW, plays out as so:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold all of 131 Bates St NW to James C. and Florie Gordon.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 1951) the Gordons borrowed $5,050 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • November 1952, the Gordons sold 131 Bates to a Miss Edith E. Matthews. Matthews then sold half of 131 Bates to James C. Gordon “unmarried”, splitting the property.
  • November 1952 Matthews sold the other half of 131 Bates to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • November 1952 the unmarried (not sure what happened to Florie) James C. Gordon borrowed $3,058.21 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1953 Evans, Levin and Taube sold their half of the property to Frank and Earlene H. Fowler.
  • Feb 1953 the Fowlers borrowed $3,211.06 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • March 1953 Florie and James are released from the December 1950 debt.
  • May 1954, James C. Gordon loses his half to foreclosure and via an  auction it returns to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • June 1959, as part of a larger property package, new partner Harry A. Badt, his wife, partners Evans and Taube, and their wives, along with Nathan Levin’s survivors sell off their interest in 131 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • March 1970 the Fowlers were released from their debt.
  • December 1971, the Basilikos and the Fowlers sold their halves of 131 Bates St NW to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

Let’s go down the checklist. Foreclosure, check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA, check.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 132 Q Street NW

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.

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. 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 see the history of 132 Q St NW and see if it fits the pattern:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold half of 132 Q St NW to Ocea M. Coltrane.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Mrs. Coltrane borrowed $3,250 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 132 Q St NW to Charles O. and Juanita L. Wallace.
  • December 1950 the Wallaces borrow $3,400 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • June 1954 Mrs. Coltrane lost her half to foreclosure. Through an auction the property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • August 1956 the Wallace family loses their half to foreclosure as well and via an auction it returns to Evans, Taube, and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • August 1956 as part of a larger property package, partner Harry Badt & his wife transfer their interest in the property to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
  • March 1959, as part of a larger package the Colonial Investment team (Evans, Badt, their wives, and Levin’s survivors) sell their interest in 132 Q St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • Sometime before 1978 George Basiliko transferred/sold 132 to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

So all the boxes were checked. Foreclosure, double-check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA, check.

1957 Church Survey: Metropolitan Baptist Church

In 1957 there was as survey of churches in the Northwest Urban Renewal Area, which included Shaw, Downtown, and the area around Union Station. One of the churches was Metropolitan Baptist Church at 1225 R St NW, and currently sits in Largo, MD. To learn more about the 1957 Church Survey read my previous posts, The Uniqueness of the 1957 Church Survey and Church Survey Northwest Urban Renewal Area October 1957.

photo of property

In 1957 Metropolitan Baptist was a large Black church with over 3,000 members. It was large enough and wealthy enough to support 2 full time and 2 part-time ministers, 3 church secretaries, and 4 janitors. The average reported attendance was 1,500 people a Sunday. If 500 more people showed up, it would then be a mega church.

A church with that many congregants and regular worshipers needed and had a parking lot. Their parking lot had room for 50 cars. About 40% of members lived in the urban renewal area. A majority, 57%, lived in other parts of the District. I see a notation that they used nearby commercial lots on Sundays. So they may have been more of a commuter church.

CS 4 Metropolitian Baptist … by Mm Inshaw

 

According to their survey, they appear to have been a very active church. There were scouts, a credit union, a YMCA basketball league along with the common religious education components.

Eventually Metropolitan would sell their church building in 2006 to Unity of Washington. While they waited for their Largo building to get built, a reduced congregation met at the Armstrong School building in Truxton Circle. There were some financial problems and that’s when the school’s grassy field was paved over. And now they are in Maryland. The End.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 136 Q Street NW

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.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 136 Q St NW:

  •  January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 136 Q St NW to Emma and William Allen.
  • January 1951 the Allens borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 136 Q St NW to Mamie and Roland F. Hawkins.
  • Jan 1951 Mitchell borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • July 1951 the Hawkins sold their property to Otha N. and Rosa M. Currie. Unfortunately……
  • February 1955, their half was foreclosed upon by Levin and Weightman and returned, via an auction, to Evans, Levin and Taube. But before that…..
  • July 1954, the Allens lost their home to foreclosure and via an auction, return to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • March 1959 Evans and Taube (and their wives) and the survivors of Nathan Levin, as part of a larger property package, sold 136 Q St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • Sometime between 1968 and 1978 Basiliko sold 136 Q St to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

Now we go down the checklist of the things that happen with properties like this. Foreclosure, checked twice. Transfer to George Basiliko, check. Eventual ownership by the DC RLA, check.