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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.
Let’s see what happens with 211 P St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 211 P NW to Leon Carter and Jordan Lewis.
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Carter and Lewis borrowed $3,250 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- February 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 211 P St NW to Alfred and Josephine Sherman.
- February 1951 the Shermans borrowed $3,400 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- May 1951 Carter and Jordan sold their half to Jordan Massie.
- July 1952 Carter and Jordan and logically Massie, lost their half to foreclosure. The property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
- August 1952 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the foreclosed half of 211 P St NW to Dealman G. and Mildred Lee.
- August 1952 the Lees borrowed $3,999.54 from Weightman and Levin.
- June 1953 the Shermans sold their half back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
- August 1953 Evans, Levin and Taube resold half of 211 P St NW to Leon and Rachel H. Gaither.
- August 1953 the Gaithers borrowed $4,060.15 from Weightman and Levin (released June 1954).
- November 1955 the Gaithers lost their home to foreclosure and property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
- April 1961 the Lees sold their half to Evans, Taube, and the Levin survivors.
- November 1961 Evans, Taube, the Levin survivors, and the Badts, as part of a larger property package, sold 211 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- Sometime between 1971 and 1980 the Basilikos, as part of a larger package probably, sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
- June 1980 as part of a larger property package, the RLA sold the property to the BSA Limited Partnership.
This followed the unfortunate WSIC story where half of the property was sold to several families and there were a couple of foreclosures. It eventually fell into the hands of George Basiliko and the DC RLA.