Lifeway Baptist Sunday School Board Building

Details

Frost Building listed in the National Register of Historic Places

In 1913, the Baptist Sunday School Board, now known as Lifeway Christian Resources, built the Frost Building at 161 Eighth Avenue North. The building was named for Dr. J.M. Frost, the first chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sunday School Board. Known until 1955 as the Executive Building, it was the board’s first permanent home. Hart Gardner Architects, a Nashville firm, designed the building, which is among the city’s best examples of Classical Revival commercial architecture. Two colossal Corinthian columns, flanked by similar pilasters, create a dignified front façade topped by a balustraded parapet at the roofline. An eleven-story administrative tower, known as the Sullivan Tower, stands at 127 Ninth Avenue North. This Art Deco-styled building was designed by the local architectural firm of Hart Freeland Roberts. The first two floors and basement were completed in 1941 and the nine stories were completed in 1953.