Comparative White DC Home Owner- Capitol Hill- Herman Hoffman- 505 3rd St SE

So just to get an idea to see if what I am seeing with the Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle is normal, or not, I am comparing them with white home owners.  I am looking at blocks that were over 90% white in 1950 but also in the same “red lined” zone, which was F1.

photo of property

Well, looking at the DC Recorder of Deeds site there really isn’t much going on with 505 E St SE. The first document is from 1933 where owner Herman R. Hoffman and wife Rose E. Hoffman transferred their property to Norman E. Daly, who immediately (w/ wife Nelly Daly) transferred it back to Herman, Rose and daughter Ione/Irene Hoffman. Aaaaaaaand nothing else happens until 1980 when the conservator of Rose Eva Hoffman’s estate, William L. Fallon, sells the property to George L. and Goldie L. Mamakos.

There are no mortgages, but there is a racial covenant in the two 1933 documents. It reads as:

“Subject to the covenants that hereafter no building or structure other than bay windows or porches shall be erected or constructed within a line drawn 12.85 feet from and parallel with the front or street line of said lot and that said property shall never be rented, leased, sold, transferred or conveyed unto any negro or colored person under a penalty of $2000.00 which shall be a lien against said property.”

It’s  unclear to me who the $2,000 ($46,671.23 in 2023’s money) would be paid to if the property was rented or sold to an African American. If there was a mortgage I’d assume it would have been the lender, but there is no lender here. The Hoffmans own it free and clear.You can wander over to Mapping Segregation DC’s site to learn more about DC racial covenants.

So who were the Hoffmans?

So let’s start with the 1920 census where then 37 year old, California born musician Herman Roy Hoffman lived with his wife Rose E. B. Herrler Hoffman, their 6 year old daughter Ione, and German mother-in-law Wilhemina Herrler at 505 3rd St SE.  He appeared again in the 1920 Census stationed at the Marine Barracks as a 1st Class Musician. So he was counted twice. He appears on several Marine Corp muster rolls as a 1st Class musician. He enlisted in 1907, starting off as a Private. Sometime around 1910 he became Musician Second Class and then 1st Class around 1915.

He married Rose Herrler May 1910 in Washington, DC. They had one daughter Ione, named after Herman’s sister, Ione R. Hoffman Symmes.

Music was a part of the family’s life. Herman taught and played the violin for children at the Friendship House and the YMCA. Ione was a mezzo soprano, contralto, and piano teacher. The pair appeared often in the local papers for performances around town.

Herman Hoffman died February 13, 1949 after a short illness at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Memory Lane: Richardson Place and Jim’s Garden

Before Common there was a long battle between the residents of Richardson Place and a developer named Mondie. And before Mondie, there was a garden where part of the current shared apartments sit.

View from alley near Richardson looking towards 4th St NW. Taken December 14, 2005.

photo of Richardson Place House in 2004The garden belonged to Jim Norris who owned the house next to it. It was a cute and sweet little garden perfect for a bachelor. The houses on Richardson back then were on the very small side. I remember one Christmas, Jim had his whole living room packed with many creches/nativity scenes. He managed to make the best of the small space. Jim owned it from 2001-2018.

Armstrong and Maybe the Homeopathic Hospital

Military unit in Armstrong Technical High School being trained by an U.S. Army lieutenant. Library of Congress.

This is a 1942 photo of the military unit for Armstrong High School. I think, and I could be wrong, they are on the Dunbar High School’s field. From this view there are two tall buildings in the background. Those buildings do not exist in current day Truxton Circle. I think they are part of the Homeopathic Hospital.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 94 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.

94 Bates St NW is the red house behind the second car on the right. Circa 2005

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.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 94 Bates St NW:

  • December 1950 Evans, Levin and Taube sold all of 94 Bates St NW to Carrie N. and Willie Burns.
  • December 1950 the Burns borrowed $6,300 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • August 1961 the Burns borrowed $5,500 from trustees Junior F. Crowell and Samuel Scrivener Jr., who have lent to other Black Truxton Circle home owners.
  • October 1961 the Burns paid off their mortgage debt to Levin and Weightman.
  • June 1975 Carrie N. Burns took out a rehabilitation loan from the DC Redevelopment Land Agency with trustee Ralph Werner for $9,150 at 6% interest. It was paid off in 1985.

So this one was unusual. Basiliko doesn’t get involved. The property was sold in whole and the DC RLA was only involved as a lender.

Sometimes smaller is better

I’m going through my old drafts. Some I rewrite, such as this one. Some I delete. And some I rewrite, still think they’re crap and delete them. This was written October 8, 2008.

1700 Blk Richardson Place NW, Dec 2005

Sometimes.
I’ve just finished reading an article regarding the upsides of raising a family in a 1,200 sf house over that of a McMansion. The author writes:

Looking back on 18 years of living small, I see that our snug house has prevented us from easily avoiding one another by retreating into our own spaces. We’ve been able to eavesdrop on our kids as they played with friends and look over their shoulders as they did homework on the dining room table. It’s been good for our health too, forcing all of us, especially our sons, to spend more time out-of-doors. There simply isn’t room to get too rowdy inside, so often they have headed outside to a neighborhood park that’s conveniently located just across the street.I hope we’ve given our sons the message that wealth doesn’t come from our material possessions, but instead from the diversity of experiences we have and the richness of our community.

The author also mentions that with a smaller house she could pay off the mortgage quicker, heat it for less and have a better commute. I already have the great commute. It is my great luck to work for an agency whose DC metro branches are all along the Green Line. My current commute is a 30-45 minute walk, or 20 minutes by metro, and that is priceless. The house is small and there isn’t much to heat or cool, and I tend to be happy lounging in 1/6th of the space. And there is the possibility of actually paying off the mortgages in the next 15 years, but I owe that more to when I bought the house as opposed to the size of the house.

The article was in the conservative online magazine Culture 11 “Living Small”

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 229 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.

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.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 229 P St NW:

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 229 P NW to Johnnie M. Alford and Oliver Rembert Jr.
  • January 1951 Alford and Rembert borrowed $3,400 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 229 P St NW to Mattie L. Jones.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Mrs. Jones borrowed $3,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • March 1956 Alford and Rembert lost their half to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube regained the property via an auction.
  • November 1961 new partner Harry A. Badt, his wife, Levin’s survivors, Evans, Taube and their wives, sold their half to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • January 1962 Mattie L. Jones was released from her mortgage…..and that is the last we hear from her.  There are a lot of Mattie L. Joneses, mainly in Texas, and I don’t have a lot of other information to go on to find her.
  • Sometime between 1973 and 1980 the DC Redevelopment Land Agency gained ownership of the whole of 229 P St NW, because later records treat it as one singular property.

Sometime in the future I need to look at document #8000020221, a 32 page contract between the DC RLA and the BSA Limited Partnership recorded June 27, 1980. There are a lot of Truxton Circle properties mentioned in the document. Before I do that I would need to complete the whole WSIC sell off series, analyze Basiliko’s takeover and sell off to DC RLA, which maybe might lead to the mystery document that seems to be missing from this database showing when he sells certain Truxton WSIC and non-WSIC properties to DC RLA. Maybe I need to look at Truxton Circle properties owned by the government. But for right now, I’ll keep chugging away with the 1950s WSIC sell off.

Look Ma No Safety Goggles- Armstrong High School 1942

Learning to use an electrical jigsaw to make model airplanes for the U.S. Navy at the Armstrong Technical High School. Library of Congress.

African American students at Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, DC use a jigsaw in 1942.

Feeling Like A Bit Player In A Greek Tragedy

The podcast Myths and Legends is a pretty good reminder of one of  the problems with being in a Greek tragedy, that bad thing you’re trying to avoid is going to happen. Sometimes the very actions taken to avoid the bad thing, lead straight to the bad thing. That’s one way of looking at things, the other is to blame the Oracle for giving vague easily misinterpreted answers.

Shaw has experienced tragedy. It took 30+ years for the neighborhood to mostly recover from the 1968 riots. Of course, prior to the first window broken or building fire, the neighborhood suffered as a slum.

Southeast on 7th and M Street, 1969

I wonder, and this is just me spitballing, if some actions taken to ‘improve’ the neighborhood, or anywhere, could wind up doing the opposite. I used ‘improve’ in quotes because I’ve seen enough government records to get a bit jaded. Along with plans from the past that did not work out the way they were supposed to. And in the case of George Basiliko and his “improving” the Bates area, I see the road of good intentions being contracted out to a corrupt front that on paper is supposed to build the road but pockets the money elsewhere.

Ignore me. I’m in a mood.