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 220 Bates St NW:
- January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 220 Bates NW to Samuel and Alice M. Carpenter.
- January 1951 the Carpenters borrowed $2,900 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- November 1950 (recorded Jan 26, 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 220 Bates St NW to Charlie R. and Melodee C. Motley.
- November 1950 (recorded Jan 26, 1951) the Motleys borrowed $2,900 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- June 1953 the Carpenters lost their half of the building to foreclosure. Via an auction that half returned to the ownership of Evans, Levin and Taube.
- July 1953 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the foreclosed half to Mrs. Doris H. Smith.
- July 1953 Mrs. Smith borrowed $3,493.54 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- September 1955 Mrs. Smith sold her half back to Evans, Levin, and Taube.
- July 1957 the Motleys sold their half to Evans, Harry A. Badt and Taube.
- March 1959 the Motleys and Mrs. Smith were released from their mortgage.
- March 1959 Badt, Evans, Taube, Nathan Levin’s survivors, and their spouses, as part of a large property package sold 220 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- Around 1971-1973 George Basiliko, as part of a larger property package, sold 220 Bates to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
- Around 1978 the DC Redevelopment Land Agency sold/transferred the property to the Bates Street Associates, Inc.
Just a side note- for document 2005039314 recorded 03/22/2005 it has UNKNOWN as the grantee and grantor. It’s handwriting, and bad handwriting, but based on the names of previous owners and actors for a 2002 loan, I’d say one is Marvin Gitelson and the other EK Interiors.
So the summation of this story was there was one foreclosure and for some reason the owners sold the property back to Colonial Investment, who then sold it to the Basilikos, who then sold it to DC RLA who then put the Bates St. Assoc. in charge. When I was looking for something to tweet (I’m not calling it X until no one has any idea of what I’m talking about) that didn’t wind up in Basiliko’s hands, I couldn’t find anything immediately. So typically, things wind up in the hands of a man labeled a slumlord, thus making this slum history. sigh