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 48 Bates St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 48 Bates Street NW to Amanda J. Hart.
- December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Ms. Hart borrowed $2,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- February 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 48 Bates St NW to Virginia and William Ford Jr.
- Feb 1951 the Fords borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- November 1952 the Fords lost their half to foreclosure and Evans, Levin and Taube repossessed the property via an auction.
- December 1952 Evans, Levin and Taube resold the foreclosed unit to Louise V. and John S. Duvall.
- Dec 1952 the Duvalls borrowed $3,124.87 from trustees Levin and Weightman.
- December 1956 the Duvalls lost their half to foreclosure and new Colonial Investment partner Harry A. Badt, along with Evans and Taube repossessed the property via an auction.
- December 1956 Harry and wife Jennie Badt sold/transferred interest in the property to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
- June 1959 Badt, Evans and Taube, Levin’s survivors and their spouses sold half of the property to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- February 1962 Ms. Hart was released from her mortgage.
- November 1968 Amanda J. Edwards (formerly Amanda J. Hart) sold her half to George Basiliko.
- Sometime in the 1970s (no document found) George Basiliko sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
- June 1980 (doc #8000020294) the DC RLA sold/ transferred 48 Bates in a large property package to the BSA (Bates Street Associates) Limited Partnership.
Two foreclosures, a sale to George Basiliko by the Colonial Investment Co partners and a home owner and his eventual sale to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency. And then DC RLA sold