The First Storey Building, on Ogbe Road in the Ake neighbourhood, was put up by the Reverend Henry Townsend of the Church Missionary Society in 1845 and is traditionally regarded as the first two-storey building in what is now Nigeria. The structure is plain: a small two-storey rectangle with whitewashed walls, an exterior staircase, a single chimney, and a low timber-roofed verandah running along one side.
It was the missionary's residence and the first Yoruba-language printing press operated from the upper floor. The building is open to visitors as a small museum, with displays on the early CMS mission, on the Yoruba Bible translation project, and on the role of Christianity in the founding of modern Abeokuta. Modest entry fee. A short walk from the Ake palace.