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.
Let’s see what happens with 209 P St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 209 P St NW to Happer and Levie Herring.
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Herrings 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 209 P St NW to Frances H. Bullock and Rhayford Meyer.
- Jan 1951 Bullock and Meyer borrowed $3,400 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- October 1955 Happer and Leuie Herring sold their half back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
- September 1959 Bullock and Meyer lost their half to foreclosure. New partner Harry A. Badt, Evans, and Taube regained the property via an auction.
- September 1959 Harry and his wife Jennie Badt transferred/sold their interest in the property to the survivors of Nathan Levin as part of a larger property package.
- November 1961, as part of a large property package, Badt, Evans, Taube, the Levin survivors and their spouses sold their interest in 209 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- May 1962 the Herrings were released from their mortgage.
- Between 1971 and 1978 Basiliko sold/transferred the property to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
- August 1978 the RLA sold/transferred the property to the Bates Street Associates Inc. as part of a larger property package.
Let’s get out the WSIC bingo card. Halves of one property sold to two separate households, check. The sole lenders were Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman, check. Foreclosure, check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA? Check. Then sold to a private partner, check.