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 24 O St NW:
- February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 24 O NW to widow Ethel and her son Malvern F. Jackson.
- February 1951 the Jacksons borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 24 O St NW to Irene M. and William P. McCall.
- Jan 1951 the McCalls borrowed $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- September 1954 the McCalls lost their home to foreclosure. The property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube via an auction.
- September 1954 the Jacksons sold the property back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
- March 1959 as part of a larger property package, Badt, Evans, Taube, their wives and Levin’s survivors sold 24 O St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- July 1971 the Basilikos sold the whole of 18 O St NW to the Housing System Dev. and Construction Corporation.I don’t know what connection, if any the Housing System Dev. and Construction Corp had to DC’s RLA. Basiliko did these with several other O Street houses. And like several properties on O Street, they were condemned by the city.
Anywho, there was one foreclosure. Colonial Investments bought back the property and this is not the only time they have done this.
Lastly, looking up the Jacksons, I discovered that Malvern Jackson was living at 18 O St NW in January 1951, when he applied for a marriage license to marry Genevieve E. Lynch. He and Genevieve had a baby boy in late August 1951. He died in 2015, as a widower to Genevieve and survived the death of one of his sons. They had three children.