Architect George L. Ekvall was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1896 and certified as an architect in 1925. Ekvall was a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Olympia Lions Club and the Olympia Art League. Notable architectural work Ekvall was associated with was the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Tacoma, the Federation Forest monument to the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs and the Medical-Dental Tower, a proposed but never constructed Tacoma skyscraper.

John Buffelen was born in the Netherlands in 1862 and came first to Milwaukie and then to Tacoma while working in the lumber industry. Buffelen became a central figure in industrial lumber manufacturing in Tacoma's tide flats area, with his corporations the Buffelen Lumber & Manufacturing Co., the Buffelen-Hubert Furniture Co. and the American Wood Pipe Co. in addition to constructing several apartment buildings in the city. Buffelen attracted a good deal of press later in life from funding multiple failed attempts to cross the Pacific by plane.

Series comprises four blueprints for a proposed apartment building for industrialist John Buffelen designed by Tacoma area architect George L. Ekvall. The stucco building is three stories with a basement, attic space and spanish tile roof. The building was located at the west corner of 5th and Yakima Street, which was located caddy corner from the Buffelen residence at 509 North Yakima St. currently occupied by the Vista Palms Apartments.

• 6 images. W. Harrison Woodruff O.P. Dennis, arch.
• TDL 6/25/1892 p.3 New residences
• TDL 7/4/1892 p.3 permits
• TDL 1/1/1893 p.15 (mention) 979.778 K524K Vol.I 979.778 K524KE p.64 (il) City Directory (1893-1898) ----- Phillip Tillinghast City Directory (1900) ----- Clarence W. Ide City Directory (1900) ----- Walter Oakes City Directory (1901-1902) ----- H.F. Alexander
• TDL 3/29/1903 p.15 (Alexander purchases house from Walter Oakes)
• TDL 1/30/1910 (permit for cottage by Cornell Bros., contr.) 720.979 W693F 917.972 T11Tb p.26 (il) City Directory (1903-1919) ----- Elmer Dover 720.979 B868B (interior il) City Directory (1920-1921) ----- Cadwalader C. Corse
• TDL 10/8/1922 p.E8 Lumberman purchases Dover home
• TDL 11/4/1923 p.D3 (mention of "Chinese room" in house designed by Mrs. I.W. Anderson, interior decorator) City Directory (1924-1931) ----- Corydon G. Wagner City Directory (1932-1936) ----- Clarence W. Wallerich
• TDL 6/7/1936 p.B8 (Wallerich purchases house from Anita Thorne Stone) (il)
• TDL 7/12/1936 p.B6 (remodeling by Cal J. Kirk, contr.) ----- 979.778 M823S p.193 (il c.1984) ----- John P. & Anne Wallerich
• TNT 9/10/1967 p.D1 Junior League names provisionals (interior il)
• TNT 11/27/1993 Grand Homes Tour (il) ----- -print at TPL (Boland Coll.#B2283)
• Year Built: 1892
• Decade Built: 1890s
• Style: Queen Anne