Tag: neighborhood history

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.

Let’s see what happens with 223 P St NW:

• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 223 P St NW to Daisy K. and Delaney Oliver.
• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Olivers borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• January 1951 (recorded in February) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 223 P St NW to Mrs. Susie A. Baker, and Edna and Clyde Workcuff.
• Jan 1951  Mrs. Baker and the Workcuffs borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• July 1952 the Olivers sold their half to Julius and Lucy J. Graves.
• May 1954 Mrs. Baker and the Workcuffs lost their half of 223 P St NW to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube regained the property via an auction.
• March 1958, the Olivers, and by extension, the Graves, lost their half of 223 P to foreclosure. Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt regained the the property via an auction, thus bringing the whole property together.
• March 1958, as part of a larger property package Harry and Jennie Badt transfer/sell their interest in the property to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
• March 1959, as part of a very large property package, Evans, Taube and the Levin survivors sell 223 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
• Sometime between 1972 and 1974 the DC Redevelopment Land Agency took ownership of 223 P St NW.
• June 1980, as part of a larger package, DC RLA sold/transferred ownership of 223 P to the BSA Limited Partnership.

Let’s review again: Divided halves sold to two separate households, check. Foreclosure, double check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA, check. I’ll note that later documents related to the property look messy.

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.

Let’s see what happens with 227 P St NW:

• January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 227 P St NW to Anna B. and Louis E. Brown.
• January 1951 the Browns borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 227 P St NW to Alice O. and Herbert F. Williams, Sr.
• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Mitchell borrowed $3,000 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• September 1959 the Browns lost their half to foreclosure. The property returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt via an auction.
• September 1959, as part of a larger property package, Harry and wife Jennie Badt transfer their interest to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
• November 1961, as part of a very large property package, Badt, Evans, Taube (and their wives), and the survivors of Nathan Levin sell their half of 227 P and other properties to Sophia and George Basiliko.
• April 1968 the Williams sold their half to George Basiliko.
• Sometime between 1971 and 1974 the property was sold to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
• August 1979 (I suspect 1978 but there are pages missing from document # 7900028039) the DC RLA sold/transferred the property (as part of a larger deal) to Bates Street Associates, Inc.

Alright looking at the WSIC bingo card we have property sold as two separate halves to two different households, check. At least one foreclosure, check. Purchase by George Basiliko, check. And also sold to the DC Redevelopment Agency, check.

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 208 Bates St NW:

• January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold all of 208 Bates Street NW to Mrs. Lucy P. Gibson.
• January 1951 Mrs. Gibson borrowed $5,800 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• January 1961 Mrs. Gibson lost her home to foreclosure. Due to an auction the ownership returned to Colonial Investment Co partners Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
• November 1961, as part of a larger property sale, Badt, Evans, Taube, Nathan Levin’s survivors, and their spouses sold 208 Bates Street NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
• July 1968 the Basilikos sold 208 Bates Street NW to the Urban Rehabilitation Corporation.

This was a quick one. Not too long after the foreclosure, the Basilikos took ownership. I can’t seem to find info about Mrs. Gibson so I can’t say what happened on her end. This differs from the usual story in that the DC Redevelopment Land Agency was not involved.

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.

Let’s see what happens with 215 P St NW:

• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 215 P NW to Sudell M. and Walter Williams.
• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Williams borrowed $3,000 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 215 P St NW to James J. and Lucille T. Meredith.
• Jan 1951 the Merediths borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• November 1953 the Merediths sold their half to the Williams.
• May 1966 the Williams borrowed $9,000 at 6.5% interest from the Suburbia Federal Savings and Loan Association.
• August 1966 it appears that the Williams were released from the Levin and Weightman mortgages that they and the Saunders took on in 1950.
• October 1968 the Williams lost their home to foreclosure and via an auction the mortgager Suburbia Federal Savings and Loan owned it.
• November 1968, Dorothy C. and Elvin L. Brincefield bought the property borrowing $7,920 from Suburbia Federal Savings and Loan.
• December 1968, as the Brincefield Company they loaned/borrowed?? I don’t understand the document.
• November 1971, the Brincefields sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).

The lesson learned here is that if your foreclosure is with someone other than the Colonial Investment Co. partners, then it does not fall into the hands of George Basiliko. But it wound up being owned by the DC RLA.

The Merediths had a not so common name so I will look into their history. In the 1950 census James Junior Meredith was an African American truck driver living at 1115 8th St in an apartment with his wife Lucille, a maid, their 1 year old daughter Carolyn and his mother in law. August 23, 1960 James died. They were living at 208 Bates Street at the time of his death, as renters. I’ll give my regular readers 1 guess at who their slumlord was. He left behind his wife Lucille, and children Carolyn, Kenneth and Patricia.

The Williams were so close to beating the normal fate. Unfortunately, Williams is too common of a name to research. Yes, Sudell is an uncommon first name, but her maiden name was Sudell Myrtle Jones.