WSIC – Truxton Is In Shaw

WSIC data clean up- 139, 141, 206, 208 Bates Street NW

Silly me, I thought I was done, and then I scrolled up. This post is just more data clean up to answer the question of if the BSA, the Bates Street Associates (BSA) owned the property. I’m going to work with clusters.

139 Bates Street NW (lot 34)- Yes. DC Redevelopment Agency (RLA) transferred ownership in a deed (doc #8000020294) and a contract (doc #8000020294) in June of 1980 to the BSA Limited Partnership.

141 Bates Street NW (lot 35)-Yes. I cannot locate a deed but there is a contract between DC RLA and Bates Street Associates Incorporated (doc #7800024140) recorded in July 1978.

206 Bates Street NW (lot 144)-Yes. I cannot locate a deed nor a contract between Basiliko selling the property to DC RLA in 1972 and the BSA Limited Partnership taking out two loans on the property in 1980. It’s safe to assume DC RLA transferred it to BSA.

208 Bates Street NW (lot 143)- No. George Basiliko sold the property to the Urban Rehabilitation Corporation in December 1970.

WSIC data clean up-14, 25, 30 and 57 Bates Street NW

I am procrastinating. One of the goals of this year is to write an article and try to pitch it somewhere on the data gathered from this huge research project on the WSIC houses. I think there is something valuable there.

It seems odd but I hate writing. Well for something other than a blog. I have written an article for a publication and it was a learning experience. It’s a different skill set.

Anyway, instead of writing up 14 Bates St NW, 25 Bates Street NW, 30 Bates Street NW and 57 Bates Street NW, I’m just going to mention what I find in answering the question. The question being did Bates Street Associates own any of these properties?

For 14 Bates St NW, Basiliko sold it to DC Redevelopment Agency in document 1971025715 in 1971. Then there was a contract between DC RLA and BSA document #7800024140 recorded in 1978. No deed that I could find.

25 Bates Street NW, yes. Document 8000020294 recorded 6/30/1980 has a deed transferring ownership from the DC Redevelopment Agency (DC RLA) to the BSA Limited Partnership. BSA is the Bates Street Associates. There is a contract that went with this, Document 8000020221 recorded on 6/27/1980, between DC RLA and BSA.

30 Bates Street NW, yes. It too is recorded in documents 8000020221 and 8000020294.

57 Bates Street NW, I see no mention of them, so no.

WSIC Redeux- 54 Bates Street NW Missing doc

Looking back I can’t seem to find a deed transferring 54 Bates and other properties on the square from the DC Redevelopment Agency (DC RLA) to the Bates Street Associates (BSA).

Image of 54 Bates St NW from 2004 — 54 Bates Street NW

So when 54 Bates was reviewed earlier this year, it ended with the whole thing sold to George Basiliko. It may have eventually fell into the hands of the DC RLA and then BSA, but as mentioned before, no deed. Instead, there’s a contract. Between 1970-1973 a lot of people on square 615 sold their properties to DC RLA. The DC RLA in turn had a contract with Bates Street Associates. One of those contracts was document # 8000020221. There’s also document 7800024140, but it seems the first couple of pages are missing.

It doesn’t help that 54 Bates is also lot 814 and formerly part of lot 173. It makes tracing the deed, for me, messy. Lot 173 was in the possession of DC RLA, lot 814 was not. But somehow, because I haven’t found the right documents, it goes from Basiliko’s ownership to BSA. Since I’ve seen properties Basiliko sold to BSA directly, I’m going to guess this is what happened.

Nathan Levin of Colonial Investment Co.- WSIC

In my post about Abraham Levin, I mentioned his brother, Nathan Levin, died of a heart attack while in a Prince George’s County court in 1956. The May 13, 1956 reported that Abraham was in the room when it happened. Nathan was president of the Colonial Investment Company and executive vice president of the Colonial Mortgage Corporation.

Colonial Investment Co. was the company that bought the rental units from the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC), removed the White tenants and sold them to Black home buyers. The Colonial Investment Co. existed before the 1950s sale of the WSIC houses. They were experienced with VA and other federal loans and large projects. It isn’t clear if there was any Federal money involved in the Truxton Circle WSIC houses.

The May 13, 1956 Evening Star had his obituary and I’ll copy/ paste it

“Nathan Levin, 58, president of the Colonial Investment Co. and builder of several large housing developments in the Washington area, died of a heart attack yesterday while testifying in Prince Georges County Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro. The case on trial before Judge John B. Gray, jr.. concerned a transfer of land, formerly a part of the old John Deere farm near TB. The land concerned was to have been the site of the projected Hoffman City development. which was abandoned several months ago.

Mr. Levin’s brother, Abraham H. Levin, of 409 Pershing drive. Silver Spring, secretary of the Colonial Investment So., was in the court room when Mr. Levin died Mr. Levin had an earlier attack several years ago but was described by his family as an “indefatigable worker”.

An attorney as well as a land developer. Mr. Levin practiced law here before going into the real estate business.

He founded the Colonial Investment Co. now at 923 15th St N.W., more than 30 years ago. He and his as associate, Nathaniel J. Taube, the vice president, who came into the business about 10 years later, also headed the Colonial Mortgage Corporation. Mr. Taube was president, and Mr. Levin was vice president of the latter firm.

Among the areas developed by Mr. Levin are the Avondale Terrace subdivision In Avondale, Md.; Riggs Park, in the vicinity of Peabody and Oneida streets NW.; Templeton Manor Apartments, in East Riverdale, and Wellington Estates in Fairfax.

At the time of his death, Mr. Levin was planning his first venture in a shopping center, the Colonial Shopping Center on Viers Mill road.

Native of Connecticut

A native of New London, Conn., Mr. Levin attended Georgetown University here and graduated from National University Law School in 1921.

He was president of B’nai Israel Congregation at Sixteenth and Crittenden streets N.W.. and was chairman of the building fund for the synagogue. He also was active In the Zionist movement.

Mr. Levin was a member of Woodmont Country Club and of the Washington Board of Trade.

Besides his brother Abraham, Mr. Levin is survived by his widow, Rose, and two sons, Lawrence and Myron, of the home address, 4705 Colorado Avenue N.W.; a daughter, Mrs. Ruth Wagman, 1863 Redwood Terrace N.W.; his mother, Mrs. Hinda Levin, and a sister. Miss Patricia Levin, both of 1336 Missouri Avenue N.W.; another sister. Mrs. Ann Prival, 6611 Wells Parkway, College Heights Estates, Md., and two grandchildren.”

Nathan Levin’s name appears in the timeline of many of the WSIC properties as the seller and repossessor of the property when it fell into foreclosure. Well, until his death on the witness stand in 1956. After that when WSIC properties were resold and foreclosed, Harry A. Badt stood in his place.

Revisit- WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 1521 3rd Street NW

This is to correct some of the data on a previous version of this post. Mainly regarding George Basiliko. I had written, “November 1967, the property was included in a larger package that was sold/transferred to Sophia and George Basiliko.” Since I did not quote the document number, I cannot find the document now. Also it didn’t make sense.

There are loan documents for this lot 130 on Sq 552 for Basiliko. I suspect there were so many properties that people got sloppy, or careless, not checking to see if Basiliko owned each and every one of the properties listed.

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.

photo of property at 1521 3rd St NW

Continue reading Revisit- WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 1521 3rd Street NW

Abraham H. Levin- Colonial Mortgage Co.

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company houses sold by the Colonial Investment Company, made up of Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans used trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman. Early on, I was not aware of a connection between Nathan and Abraham H. Levin. Currently, I am aware that Nathan and Abraham were brothers.

When Nathan Levin died in 1956, he was replaced by Harry A. Badt in the paperwork for further foreclosures and sales of WSIC Truxton Circle houses. In researching Badt, I found the brotherly connection.

According to a 1946 ad, Colonial Investment Co. was established in 1925. So starting there, I looked for him in the papers. In 1933 Abraham Levin passed the bar. The next year he married Naomi Lillian Bersh. He worked for the Census Bureau. In the 1940s he went into real estate, obtaining his license in 1945.

His brother, Nathan Levin, died while in court in 1956. The May 13, 1956 reported that Abraham was in the room when it happened. Nathan was president of the Colonial Investment Company and executive vice president of the Colonial Mortgage Corporation.

According to Abraham’s obituary he returned to federal service in the 1960s, working for HUD. He died in 1998.

Abraham H. Levin was one of two trustees who issued mortgages to African Americans purchasing Truxton Circle homes from the Colonial Investment Company. His name was on countless foreclosures.

Redeux-WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 137 Bates Street NW

This is an update of a previous post.

photo of property

Let’s see 137 Bates’ property history:

January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the whole of 137 Bates St NW to two couples, George A. and his wife Gladys L. Watson, along with Clayton and wife Lizzie M. Williams.
January 1951 the Watsons and the Williams borrowed $5,050 from the Colonial Inv. Co’s preferred lenders, trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
February 1963 the Watsons and the Williams were released from their mortgage.
August 1963, through an intermediaries Barbara and Robert Drake, the Watsons and the Williams placed the property solely in the Williams’ name.
March 1964 the Williams borrowed $5,000 from Republic Savings & Loan, later the Home Federal Savings & Loan Association.
June 1981 Mrs. Williams borrowed $20,000 from what appears to be the DC Department of Housing & Community Development.
November 1981 the Williams were released from their 1964 mortgage.
May 2018 the estate of Lizzie Mae Williams, being that she died July 13, 1997 and Clayton died July 25, 1971, sold by the Estate of Diane Alexander, which was represented by Alisia Alexander sold 137 Bates to Leben Holdings LLC for $805,500.

For information about the Watsons and the Williams, see the earlier post. But this transaction seemed to work for everyone. There were no foreclosures and the property stayed in the hands of one of the families (I could not find a connection between the Watsons & Williams).

Redeux-WSIC Sell Off- 127 Bates Street NW

This is an update of a previous post published last year.

So I thought this was a WSIC house. It wasn’t built as one. However, it was sold as one.From the picture above of 127 Bates from 2004, the lot number is 0821. The land records for that lot number only goes back to 2013. So to the 1919 map

1919 map from Library of Congress — 1919 Baist Map of section of Square 552

127 Bates Street NW appears to have been Lot 804. The record for that lot end in 1929. That’s the year the house was built, well after the majority of WSIC TC houses were erected.

Working on the house history of 129 Bates Street NW, it was sold as a fourplex. However, the current structure doesn’t look like a former 4 unit property. But if you combine it with 127, it does. So lets go with that. For that history check out the link above for 129 Bates.

The summary, if assuming 127-129 Bates was one, there were 3 foreclosures. It was sold to DC RLA who then sold it to the Bates Street Associates.

Redeux-WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 129 Bates Street NW

This is a redo of a previous post to add a little bit of more info.

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. In 1956 Nathan Levin died and Colonial Investment Company vice president Harry A. Badt took his place in the foreclosure paperwork. 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. photo of 129 Bates St NW

First, the lot number 822 doesn’t work. Looking at maps 129 Bates fits on lots 819 & 820, formerly of lot 25. So this examination will look at sales for lots 819/820 combined.

The last time I tried this, titles were too messy for me to do a decent tracking for this address and I gave up. I’ll make another stab at it.

Let’s see what happens with 129 Bates St NW:

March 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold 1/4 of the unit to Harold J. and Margaret A. Price.
March 1951 the Prices borrowed $3,700 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
May 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold 1/4 of 129 Bates to Elsie M. and James W. Horton.
May 1951 the Hortons borrowed $3,650 from trustees Levin and Taube.
May 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold 1/4 of the property to Doris E. and Thomas H. Brown Jr.
May 1951 the Browns borrowed $3,650 from Levin and Weightman.
June 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the remaining 1/4 to Marian and Thomas P. Gale.
June 1951 the Gales borrowed $3,700 from Levin and Weightman.
July 1951 the Prices sold 1/4 of their property to Charles M. and Mabel C. Bowser.
June 1953 the Browns lost their quarter to foreclosure, and Evans, Levin and Taube repossessed the property via an auction.
August 1954, in a large property package Evans, Levin and Taube transferred several foreclosed properties to themselves via an intermediary Lillian M. McGowan. I don’t know why.
December 1954 the Hortons lost their quarter to foreclosure, and Evans, Levin and Taube repossessed the property via an auction.
December 1957, the Gales lost their quarter to foreclosure, and Evans, Badt and Taube repossessed the property via an auction.
December 1957, as part of a larger property package ( doc # 1958019347) Harry and wife Jennie Badt transferred their interests in this and other properties to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
October 1963, the Prices, and by extension the Bowsers, were released from their mortgage.
December 1972 James B. and wife Carmen Evans, in a very large property package (doc#1972027675 ) sold their interest to R & R Investments Inc.
November 1972, James A. Mitchell’s* survivors, Sidney H. and wife Olivia Matthews, along with Harry C. and Gloria Matthews, Nathaniel Taube, and Nathan Levin’s survivors sold their interest in the property to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency.
January 1973, R & R Investments sold their interest to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
May 1974 the Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings decided that 129 Bates Street NW was condemned (doc# 7400013192) and informed the owner, DC RLA.
June 1975 129 Bates was considered sanitary.
About 1978 DC RLA transferred/ sold this and other properties to the Bates Street Associates, Inc.

129 Bates does not strike me as a 4 unit property. I’m not sure what happened with the Bowsers. Their quarter was not foreclosed, like the other 3/4th of 129 Bates. Eventually, 129 Bates was owned by the DC RLA and then Bates Street Associates. The slum landlord who usually shows up, did not.

Looking for the deed history of 127 Bates St NW, it is pretty much the same as 129, except it also has lot 782, which only appears once.

*I have not idea who James Mitchell is.

Redeux- WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 15 Bates Street NW

This is a redo of a previous post to add a little bit of more info.

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. In 1956 Nathan Levin died and Colonial Inv. Co. vice president Harry A. Badt took his place in the foreclosure paperwork. 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. photo of 15 Bates St NW, WDC

Let’s see what happens with 15 Bates St NW:

January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the whole of 15 Bates St NW to Jessie I. Johnson, married and Maude Y. Ryles, widow.
Jan 1951 Johnson and Ryles borrowed $6,050 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
July 1963 Ryles and Johnson borrowed $6,600 from the Perpetual Building Association with trustees Junior F. Crowell and Samuel Scrivener Jr.
October 1963 Ryles and Johnson were released from their Jan 1951 mortgage.
October 1963 Ryles and Johnson benefited from the release of a loan taken out by Evans, Levin and Taube in November 1950.
December 1976 Ryles and Johnson sold the property Cleveland R. and Harriette Chambliss.
May 1990 Harriette, who was Cleveland’s widow and her next husband, George W. Crockett Jr sold the house to Lincoln Jenkins.
September 1990 Ryles and Johnson were released from their 1963 mortgage…. long after they sold the house.

This appears to work as promised. No foreclosures, no slum lords, no redevelopment agencies.

I found the Maude Ryles lived at 15 Bates Street NW according to the 1954 city directory. The rest of her history, I am not 100% about, but here’s my best shot. She may have been Maude Ann Yancey as a 1961 obit for Mariah H. Yancey mentions Maude Ann Ryles as the stepmother to her and several other girls and the foster mother of George Jordon of New York. So that’s where I guess the Y is for. In the 1950 census she was living at 62 Q St NW, Apt. 2, with a roommate and working as some sort of operator for Veteran’s (Affairs?). She died June 1980 and according to the Social Security Death Index she was born May 13, 1902, however her grave differs saying she was born in 1903.

According to the obit on the Find a Grave site, Jessie Y. Johnson was her sister. So I looked for her in the 1954 city directory and found her at 15 Bates Street NW. It appears she was an examiner for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In the 1950 census, she too was living at 62 Q St NW, but Apt 1. She was living with her husband Chester Arthur Johnson and 20 year old daughter Iris.