Tag: Property Owners of TC

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.

So I am looking at WSIC houses on the blocks between North Capitol, 3rd, Q and P Streets. Sometimes neighboring homes that are not WSIC homes get caught in the net like dolphins in tuna nets. This is one of them. I’m going to give it the WSIC treatment anyway.

The land records I can find on the Recorder of Deed’s site for 118 Q St NW starts in the 1940s. So lets start there:

• March 1941 James I. and Mildred F. Medley sold 118 Q St NW (lots 26, 813 & 814) to Hubert R. Quinter and sister in law Mary B. Zetelle.
• January 1946 Mary B. Zetelle, Mr. & Mrs. Gladys Z. and Hubert R. Quinter transferred several properties through Nannie D. Carr to remove Mary Zetelle’s name from the deed.
• January 1961 Gladys Z. and Hubbert R. Quinter sold two lots 813 & 814 to Mercedes B. and Norman F. Manders.
• Jan 1961 the Manders borrowed $3,500 from trustees William S. Green and Arthur J. Sherwin.
• September 1963 the Manders borrowed $7,000 from the National Bank of Washington.
• December 1963 the Manders were released from their Jan 1961 loan.
• October 1964 the Manders sold lots 813 & 814 to the Diamond Housing Corporation.

I’ll leave it with the Diamond Housing Corp. because it appears to have either sold to another company or renamed itself. The paperwork doesn’t provide a clue if or when this happened.

Let’s look at the people who owned 116 & 118 Q St NW. Isabelle Mercedes (nee Barry) Manders was born a White DC native in 1926. She had a Catholic education, attending the Sacred Heart Academy and then Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross (check out their history 1910-1959). In 1948 she married Norman Francis Manders at Nativity Catholic Church in Brightwood. Norman was also a DC native born in 1927. When he married Mercedes, he was a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy. In the 1950 census the couple lived at 935 Kennedy St NW, Apt 202 with their infant daughter. At that time, Norman was working as a painter and paperhanger (wallpaper dude) and Mercedes was a dance instructor. In the 1954 city directory the family was at 1715 Oglethorpe NW and Norman operated his own decorating business. The couple eventually had 5 children, later lived in Potomac, MD, retired to Florida and had over a dozen grandchildren. I doubt they lived in Truxton Circle.

Looking at Mary B. (nee Wallace) Zetelle and the 1910 census, she lived at 3101 14th St NW with her husband Antonio, step daughter (?) Gladys Magruder. However, in Gladys’ 1913 wedding announcement to Hubert Quinter, she is listed as a niece. The Delaware marriage record has her parents as Daniel and Blanche Wallace.  Hubbert Roger Quinter was born in 1890 in DC. In the 1920 census the couple lived at the 16th Street South Brook Apt House with their two year old daughter. At the time Hubbert was an insurance agent. In 1930 the family lived at and owned 3228 Woodley Rd NW. Living with the little family was Gladys’ aunt, Mary. They lived next door (3232 Woodley) to Hubbert’s brother William K. Quinter, a “well known District Bar member” and lawyer. By the second World War they moved to Chevy Chase, MD. Hubbert was still in the Insurance business but this time working for a Real Estate firm. Mr. and Mrs. Quinter lived with their married daughter, their granddaughter and two African American servants. In the 1950 census, the family moved back to DC living at 4801 Connecticut Ave NW. At this point Hubbert was president of the Real Estate Mortgage and Guaranty Co. and noted for being an associate of Harry Wardman.  He died of a heart attack at Georgetown Hospital in 1961.

Edit- 12/1/24- added that Isabelle Manders was white. I forget to add the race of the people when they aren’t African American. I also forget to add it when they are Black too.

This is a book I never finished and I think I might have thrown out in my move from DC to Maryland, Family Properties: How the Struggle Over Race and Real Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America. It had a lot of information and told a story of unfairness in white real estate investors selling properties in a former Jewish neighborhood to African Americans. The unfairness was that the buyers had really bad contracts, the houses were in poor shape and the buyers were set up to fail.

Until I started looking at the great sell off of Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) with 43-45 Bates Street NW, I thought such a thing was a corrupt Chicago thing. Nope. It happened here.

Prior to looking at this I’d been doing my Black Home Owners of Truxton Circle series and most things looked like they were on the up and up. Even prior to the records I found in the Recorder of Deeds on-line site, starting in the 1920s, I was aware of Black families in Truxton Circle who owned their homes, if not several other properties. They borrowed from financial institutions, such as the Perpetual Building Association and passes down or sold their homes in the natural course of living. Sometimes there was the odd foreclosure.

But this. This looked like a scam to me.

They sold half. HALF. Of the property to a buyer, whom I will assume was African American because in the 1950s, Truxton Circle was overwhelmingly Black. They all used the same lenders, Levin and Weightman. Then in a few years the property would go into foreclosure and would get sold to a man the Washington Post called a slum lord, George Basiliko. If the Black buyer managed to avoid foreclosure, for some reason they would eventually sell their half to George Basiliko.

June 22, 1959 George and Sophia Basiliko purchased a package of properties from a party of interests associated with the original three business men who purchased almost all the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company rentals. This is captured in documents #1959019387, 1959019395, 1959019388, 1959019389. And more in an August 5, 1959 document # 1959024641. These accounted for about 122 properties. And there were more packaged properties.

I’m not going to go into detail in this post as there are a lot of properties in documents 1959019387 to 1959019389, 1959019395 and 1959024641. If you read this blog, all three of you, there are many individual properties where all or half of it fall into Basiliko’s hands.

Then a load of federal money, laundered through the District of Columbia government, flooded into Basiliko’s pockets in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As seen in several posts, the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) purchased poorly maintained Truxton Circle properties from Basiliko. In 1969 for a US House Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Home Financing Practices and Procedures an article about Basiliko was submitted. Basiliko came up a lot in the hearing.

The RLA, which got its funding from the US government (remember Home Rule doesn’t come until 1973), bought out Basiliko. It can be argued that he was able to off load the properties for far more than what they were worth. The DC government in the form of the RLA was a more generous buyer than any private investor buyer.

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals, with the idea of selling to African Americans.

Around 1950, WSIC sold off their inventory to Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. In an Evening Star article regarding the end of WSIC, the new owners expressed their intention to sell the rentals to Black home buyers.

This sounds decent until you get into the details. I noticed there was a pattern. They would sell half (these were 2 flat structures) to two different families. One or both households would lose their half of the house to foreclosure. And or the property (half or whole) would wind up in the hands of a man who the Washington Post called a slum lord, George Basiliko. Sometimes, an owner who avoided foreclosure or selling to Basiliko, would have to sell to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Some fortunate souls managed to avoid all of that.

Let’s see what happened with 25 Bates St NW:

• 2/14/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell one-half of 25 Bates St NW to Lonnie J. and Margie R. Bridges.
• 2/14/1951 the Bridges borrow $1,900 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• 2/14/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell the other half of 25 Bates St NW to Lloyd S. and Phoebe M. Lyles.
• 2/14/1951 the Lyles borrow $3,800 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• 8/08/1952 the Lyles sold their half to Elizabeth and John A. Walker.
• 8/8/1952 the Walkers borrow $2,666 at 6% interest from trustees Vivian C Kent and Rudolph A. Taylor.
• 6/17/1958 the Lyles are foreclosed upon and ownership returns to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
• 7/3/1958 The Badts (Harry & wife) transfer their interest in this and other properties to Nathan Levin’s family (wife Rose, children Lawrence, Myron Levin and Ruth Wagman) .
• 3/30/1959 the Bridges lose their half to foreclosure and property ownership return to Evans, Taube, and Badt.
• 6/22/1959 The Badts, Evans, Taubes, and Wagmans sell this and other properties in a large package to Sophia and George Basiliko.

I cannot find the deed transferring the property from Basiliko to the DC RLA, but in 1980 the RLA had ownership. Basiliko had to sell a lot of his rentals to the District of Columbia in the late 1970s because of poor management.

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.

I have looked at 43 Bates St NW and now 41 Bates Street NW and have noticed a pattern so far. The pattern is this, the two flat structure is sold as a group of other Truxton Circle and other DC WSIC properties to three business partners. Those business partners, with a particular lender, would sell 1/2 of a house to buyers. Within a year or so that half was foreclosed upon. If the buyers didn’t face foreclosure they sold the properties back to the surviving original businessmen and their family who then sold the property to George Basiliko, who the Washington Post called a slum lord.

So let’s see the pattern in action:

• WSIC indirectly transfers the property to (lot 136) Nathan Levin, James B. Evans, and Nathaniel J. Taube in 6/16/1950 in large package
• Levin, Evans, and Taube sell 1/2 of the property to James W. Morgan 1/26/1951
• 1/26/1951 Morgan borrows $5,050 from the only trustees I’ve seen in these purchases, Abraham Levin and Robert G. Weightman
• 12/17/1953 Morgan loses the property via foreclosure
• Property returns to Levin, Evans and Taube…. normally it goes to the trustees who lent the money
• 2/9/1954 Levin, Evans & Taube sell half interest of property to Hattie Mae Davis
• 2/9/1954 Davis borrows $3,037.29 from Levin & Weightman
• 5/5/1954 Levin, Evans & Taube sell the other half interest to Cornwallis and Vora M. Mitchell
• 5/5/1954 the Mitchells borrow $2,986.78 from Levin & Weightman
• Davis loses her half of the property 8/24/1955 to foreclosure
• No document, but one will assume the foreclosed property returned to the family & business interests of Levin, Evans & Taube
• 8/5/1959 the family & business interests of Levin, Evans & Taube (Badt, Evans, Taube, Levin and Wagman) sell package of properties to real estate man George Basiliko and his wife
• 1/8/1965 Mitchell sells the remaining half to Basiliko

Since Cornwallis Mitchell is a unique name I bothered looking him up. In the 1950 census he was a North Carolina born African American man living in an apartment in Shaw with his wife Vera and daughter Alise.  In the 1930s and 1940s he lived at 441 N St NW, Apt 25 with wife Deborah (remarried?). He died in 1958.

At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th a company began with the idea of buying and building sanitary affordable homes in Washington, DC. That company was the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) and their experiment in charitable capitalism came to an end in the early 1950s. This blog will attempt to look at the Truxton Circle area properties sold off from WSIC to regular people.

Attempt. The 45 Bates St NW post had some confusion and lo, this one isn’t any better. Once again it appears they sell the one property to two different people and goodness gracious, I am confused. But let’s try to sort this out.

So like 45 Bates Street the Truxton Circle (and other parts of DC) lots owned by WSIC are sold off in one big lot to three men, business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans for $3 million dollars in June of 1950.

They sold a one-half (1/2) interest in 43 Bates Street to Mrs. & Mr. Elizabeth and Neal Nelson on January 26, 1951. The Nelson’s borrowed $2,525.

That same day the business partners sold the other 1/2 interest to Mrs. Irene Brown, Mr. James E. Rogers and his wife Perlina Rodgers. The three also borrowed $2,525 from the same trustees as the Nelsons, Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman. However their ownership didn’t last very long and they went into foreclosure in September 1952.

Hickman and Bernice Leathers replaced the Rogers and Brown, buying 1/2 interest in the property in October 1952. The borrowed $3,173.94 from trustees Levin & Weightman. Their ownership only lasted until March 1954, with another foreclosure.

I’m just going to note. Something doesn’t feel right about this. Something feels, predatory.  Okay, back to the land records….

In April 1954, Levin, Taube, and Evans sell the one-half interest to three ladies, Leotta Francis, Isabell and Rosalie Forde. They borrow $3,186.77 from trustees Levin & Weightman. In January of 1958, the ladies sell the property back to Nathaniel J. Taube and James B. Evans and new partner, Harry A. Badt.

With two foreclosures with the other half of 43 Bates, I wondered how long the Nelsons lasted. They lasted until March 1958, with a foreclosure.

And then it gets more confusing.

In an August 1958 deed, Harry A. Badt and his wife Jennie sell off several parts of properties, of which one-half interest of 43 Bates NW is one. They sold 1/2 of 34 Bates St NW, 1/2 of 55 Bates St NW, half of 43 Bates St NW, half of 34 O St NW, half of 1216 Carrollsburg PL SW and 1/4 interest in 1235 Simms PL NE to four people. Of the set, Rose Levin got 3/9th interest, Lawrence L. Levin got 2/9th interest, Myron S. Levin also got 2/9th interest, as wells as Ruth Wagman with 2/9th interest.

In 1959 George Basiliko, whom the Washington Post referred to as a “slum lord”, bought a slew of Bates Street and other Truxton Circle properties from the heirs of and remaining living owners of the original 3 businessmen. There were a lot of people and a number of properties, but in short, 43 Bates was one of the properties in this batch. George and wife Sophia Basiliko borrowed $73,500 for the group of properties from Telsyndicate where James B. Evans and Nathaniel Taube were the trustees. This document was followed a few months later by an agreement binding the Basilikos, Evans and Taube and Telsyndicate, noting the Basilikos secured funding from the Perpetual Building Association.

George Basiliko, owned the property until the late 1970s? I can’t find a deed transferring the property but the next owner appears to be DC’s Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). And there was that whole scandal in the 1970s forcing Basiliko to sell off his Truxton Circle properties.