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 54 Bates St NW:
- January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 54 Bates St NW to Bessie and William Walton.
- Jan 1951 the Waltons borrowed $1,900 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 54 Bates St NW to Helen and James H. Hodge.
- Jan 1951 the Hodges borrowed $1,900 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- September 1951 the Hodges sold their half to Audrey and John M. Bonner.
- April 1953 the Waltons lost their half to foreclosure, and via an auction the property returned to the ownership of Evans, Levin & Taube.
- April 1953 Evans, Levin & Taube resold the foreclosed half to Emma and Willie M. Smith.
- April 1953 Mr. & Mrs. Smith borrowed $2,687.93 from trustees Levin and Weightman.
- July 1954 the Smiths lost their half to foreclosure and via an auction Evans, Levin and Taube repossessed the property.
- August 1956 the Hodges lost their half to foreclosure. New Colonial Investment Co. partner Harry A. Badt, Evans, and Taube repossessed the property via an auction. The property was owned completely by Colonial Investment Co.
- August 1956 Harry and Jennie Badt transferred interest of the property to Nathan Levin’s survivors, Lawrence L., Myron S., Rose Levin and Ruth Wagman.
- March 1959, in a large property package, Badt, Evans and Taube, the survivors of Nathan Levin, and their spouses sold 54 Bates to Sophia and noted slum landlord George Basiliko.
There is a hole in the documentation. At some point Basiliko no longer owned 54 Bates and the Bates Street Associates (BSA) Limited Partnership did. Usually around 1970 the Basilikos sold property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency and the Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) sold/transferred it to the BSA. But I can’t find that.
What I have found was that there were several foreclosures and the house was sold to the Basilikos. I am guessing that it did follow the usual pattern.