WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 205 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 what happens with 205 P St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 205 P NW to Rosa and Frederick Matthews.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Matthews borrowed $3,250 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 205 P St NW to Fannie B. Tolbert.
  • Jan 1951 Tolbert borrowed $3,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • April 1954 Tolbert (she was separated in 1951 and married in 1954) sold her half to John H. Russell.
  • April 1954 Russell borrowed $1,461.97 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • May 1956 Tolbert was foreclosed upon. Via an auction, the property returned to the ownership of the Colonial Investment Co partners, Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • May 1956, as part of a larger property package, the Badts transferred all or some of the ownership of their interest in the property to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • November 1961, as part of a larger property package, Badt, Evans and Taube, their wives, and Levin’s survivors sell half of 205 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • January 1962 the Matthews were released from their mortgage owning their half free and clear.
  • May 1977 the Matthews sold their half to George Basiliko Inc.

I have no idea what was going on in the 1980s. On the surface it looks like George Basiliko sold/transferred the property to different people who then got foreclosed upon and he wound up getting the property back. Idk. I’m not looking all that closely. By the time the property came under one owner I gather the chance to dump it on DC RLA for a pretty penny passed. Checking our WSIC bingo card we have selling two halves, check. A foreclosure, check. Selling to George Basiliko, check. But no sale to DC RLA or any of its associated private partners.

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