The Olympic Tower, originally known as the United Shopping Tower, then the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Building, and later, the Olympic Savings Tower, is a historic 12-story office tower located in Seattle, Washington and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was originally built in 1929 at the Southwest corner of Third Avenue and Pine Street for the United Pacific Corporation under the control of Seattle investment firm Drumheller, Ehrlichman and White. It was designed by Henry Bittman who would also design additions to the building in 1939. The building consists of a ten-story reinforced concrete and terra cotta tower set back from 3rd Avenue but flush with Pine Street, on top of a three-story (originally two-story) base that fills the lot. A large part of the facade consists of large windows bringing natural light into almost every interior space. It was reported at the time of construction that the shopping tower had more glass in proportion to its size than any other building in Seattle. The building's original purpose was to house retail tenants, one per floor with a tea room on the tenth floor. The building was an early incarnation of the indoor shopping center and the only of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Also in the original plans, grass was to be planted on the roof of the second floor for a putting green owned by a sporting goods store on the third floor (the base of the tower). By the end of 1932, the retail concept proved to be a failure and the building was converted into offices for the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company. It later housed the headquarters for the Olympic Savings Bank, after whose closure in 1994 was sold to private investors and converted into office space. The building became a City of Seattle Landmark on May 18, 1987. History Plans announced In late 1928, the corner of Third Avenue and Pine street in Seattle's burgeoning midtown retail district, then occupied by the aging Melrose Hotel, was purchased from the Gottstein Estate by United Shopping Tower Inc., a company created by the United Pacific Corporation specifically to own the property which was in turn a subsidiary of Drumheller, Ehrlichman & White investment bankers. In September 1928, an announcement was made by United Pacific for plans of a $700,000 retail tower on the prominent site that would rise ten, later revised to twelve,