Month: October 2023

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 200 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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

Let’s see what happens with 200 Bates St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 200 Bates St NW to Ida J. and James W. Grayson.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Graysons borrowed $3,025 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 200 Bates St NW to Cleo T. and William Willis.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Willis borrowed $3,025 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • August 1956 the Willis family lost their home to foreclosure and with an auction it returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • August 1956 (recorded 8/1958) as part of a larger property package, the Badts (Harry A. and wife Jennie) transferred their interest in 200 Bates St NW to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • November 1961 the Graysons lost their half to foreclosure and via an auction the property went back to Evans, Taube and the Nathan Levin survivors.
  • November 1961, as part of a larger property package, Evans, Taube, Levin’s survivors and their spouses sold 200 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • November 1971, the Basilikos sold 200 and 204 Bates Street NW (document 1971023182) to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
  • Sometime after 1971 the DC RLA transferred or sold the property to the BSA Limited Partnership.
  • April 1982 the BSA Limited Partnership sold the property back to the District of Columbia government.

Let’s go down the checklist: Property sold in halves, check. Foreclosures, check. George Basiliko ownership, check. DC RLA ownership, check. Just another sad WSIC story.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 206 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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

Let’s see what happens with 206 Bates St NW:

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the whole of 206 Bates Street NW to Sylvester Butler and Bettie H. Garner.
  • January 1951 Butler and Garner borrowed $5,050 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • August 1952 Butler and Garner transferred the property to Edith E. Matthews, who transferred half of the property to Bettie Garner and the other half to Sylvester Butler.
  • August 1953 Miss Garner borrowed $2,320.72 from Levin and Weightman.
  • August 1953 Mr. Butler borrowed $2,320.72 from Levin and Weightman.
  • February 1953 Butler and Garner were released from their 1951 mortgage.
  • August 1953, Butler lost his half of the house to foreclosure. Through an auction the property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • June 1959, new partner Harry A. Badt, Nathan Levin’s survivors, Evans, Taube and their spouses sold the foreclosed half to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • February 1963, Bettie H. Garner was released from her mortgage.
  • March 1972 the Basilikos sell the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

I’m stopping here because the documents onward are confusing. I cannot find out what happened to Ms. Garner and her half, it just gets lost. But as part of the usual story, we have a foreclosure, a sale to the Basilikos and the DC Redevelopment Agency.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 40 O 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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

Let’s see what happens with 40 O St NW:

  • February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 40 O St NW to Nellie and John R. Burton.
  • February 1951 the Burtons borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 40 O St NW to Helen O. and Robert M. Pyndell.
  • February 1951 the Pyndells borrowed $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • March 1958 the Pyndells lost their half of the property to foreclosure and through an auction the property returned to Evans and Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • March 1958, as part of a larger property package, the Badts (Harry A. and wife Jennie) transfer/sold their interest in 40 O St NW to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • August 1958 the Burtons lost their half of the property to foreclosure and the property returned to Badt, Evans and Taube via an auction.
  • August 1958, as part of a larger property package, Harry and Jennie Badt transferred/sold their interest in 40 O St NW to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • March 1959, Badt, Evans, Taube, the Levin survivors, and their spouses, as part of a large property package, sold the whole of 40 O St to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • July 1971, as part of a large property package, George & Sophia Basiliko sold 40 O St NW to the Housing System Development and Construction Corp.

Once again it appears that the scheme set up just set Africans American buyers for failure. And as a bit of irony housing expressly built to improve renters lives wound up in the hands of a slumlord who did not improve the lives of his tenants.

Robert Martell Pyndell, before buying 40 O St NW, was a Black truck driver living with his in-laws at 521 2nd St SE in 1950. In 1947 he married Helen Odessa Shepard. After this loss in Truxton Circle the family managed to buy a home in 1961 at 306 Channing Street NE. Funnily, looking at the Channing St deed, there is covenant language on document 1961001489 stating that the property should not be sold, leased or conveyed to any person of negro or part negro blood. Mr. Pyndell appears to be unmistakably black. This was in 1961, after racial covenants were found to be unconstitutional in 1948. The Pyndells eventually wound up in Alabama, with Robert selling a plot of land (parking spot? Sq 3554 lot 0106) in 1985.

Unfortunately, there were two John R. Burtons and two Nellie Burtons (married to different people) buying and owning property in DC at the time. I found a John Burton, an Afro-American barber married to a Nellie (nee Lane?) living at 505 O Street NW in the 1920 census. But I’m not 100% sure these are the same people.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 219 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 219 P St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 219 P NW to Ethel M. and Jacob S. Miller.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Millers 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 219 P St NW to Arthur and Blumne Lipscomb.
  • Feb 1951 Mitchell borrowed $3,400 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1952 the Lipscombs transferred their half to Margaret Johnson who transferred it back to Arthur Lipscomb and Blumer Whitehead, who I will assume is the same person as Blumne Lipscomb.
  • October 1961 the Millers are released from their mortgage, owning their half free and clear.
  • April 1962 the Lipscomb mortgage is released.
  • August 1970, Shellie F, Bowers administrator for the estate of Henry A. Lipscomb sold his interest to Elizabeth Edwards.
  • August 1988, Elizabeth Edwards was noted to have a 1/4 interest in 219 P St, sold her interest, as well as the heir-at-law of Blumer Whitehead (died 6/30/1985) to Freda D. and Junella M. Gaines.

I have no idea what happened to the Millers. It’s safe to assume they died. They just disappeared. Junella A. Gaines was the heir of the Millers as there is a water sewer lien sent to them in 1986, two years before the other half of the house was sold her. There is a 2002 Quit Claim Deed stating that the Gaines were heirs of the Millers.

As we can see from the 2004 photo above, the house was abandoned and vacant in total. The city condemned the property in October of 2004 when it was owned by FDG Funding Services.