Day: May 17, 2023

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 60 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.

Let’s see what happens with 60 Bates St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 60 Bates St NW to Beatrice S. and John C. Cooper.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Coopers 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 60 Bates St NW to Lewis C. Pate.
  • Jan 1951 Pate borrowed $3,875 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • April 1954 Pate sold his half back to Evans, Levin, and Taube.
  • June 1954 Pate was released from his mortgage.
  • September 1954 the Coopers lost their half to foreclosure. The property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube via an auction.
  • March 1959, as part of a larger package, new partner Harry A. Badt, Evans, Taube, their wives, and the survivors of Nathan Levin sold 60 Bates Street NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.

It appears that between 1972-1980 the DC Redevelopment Land Agency gains control of 60 Bates Street. The document showing the transfer from Basiliko to DC RLA is somewhere but does not appear for this property.

So lets check our WSIC sell off bingo card. Half of the property sold to two different households, check. Same lender for all borrowers, check. Foreclosure, check. Sold to Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA, I can’t find the paperwork, but check.