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 33 Bates St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 26, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 33 Bates Street NW to Doris W. Hogan.
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 26, 1951) VVVV borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- December 1950 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 33 Bates St NW to Courtney T. and Winston Williams.
- Dec 1950 the Williams borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- September 1952 Doris Hogan lost her half to foreclosure and Evans, Levin and Taube repossessed the property via an auction.
- October 1952 Evans, Levin and Taube resold the foreclosed half to Lydia and Willis Stevenson.
- October 1952 the Stevensons borrowed $3,164.38 from trustees Levin and Weightman.
- December 1956 the Stevensons lost their half to foreclosure. Through an auction the property returned to the possession of the Colonial Investment Co. partners Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
- December 1956 Harry and his wife Jennie Badt transferred interest in 33 Bates to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
- November 1961, in a large property package (doc 1962000416), Badt, Evans, Taube, Nathan Levin’s survivors and their spouses sold 33 Bates to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- August 1964 the Williams sold their half to Frances F. and Raymond L. Rogers.
- September 1964 the Williams were released from their mortgage.
- May 1968 the Rogers sold their half to George Basiliko, making him the sole owner of 33 Bates.
- Around 1970, as there is no documentation for this property, Basiliko sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
- July 1978 (doc # 7800024140) there is a contract between DC RLA and the Bates Street Associates Inc (BSA) regarding 33 Bates. These contracts for other TC properties are paired with a deed, which I cannot locate.
This property fits the pattern with foreclosures, Basiliko ownership, followed by what appears to be DC RLA and BSA ownership.
I noticed the names Frances F. and Raymond L. Rogers were familiar. They were purchasers of 221 Bates Street NW and 218 Bates St NW. So looking up a Raymond L. Rogers married to a Frances, I find Raymond Lionel Rogers (1912-2009) who was a White real estate broker. So this tells me that the Colonial Investment partners gave up on selling to African American buyers at some point and began selling to White real estate investors.