[2] The land was bought in 1885 for £1025 by William Crush Daldy, Shirley Whitfield Hill and Theodore Minet Haultain as trustees for the Costley Training Institution.

[1][2] In the early 1970s, Carlile House was a remand home run by the Department of Social Welfare, and in 1973 became the Auckland Alternative School.

[8] Carlile House is a two-storey late Victorian building of an Italianate style, built in brick with limestone dressings.

[2] It has an H-plan layout and the façade has two projecting wings with arched windows and a central single-storey columned portico in the middle with the name "Carlile House" above the entrance.

In August 1886, not long after the Institute opened, The New Zealand Herald described the then Costley Training Institute's interior as having:"a commodious dining room, and sitting room for use of lads, on the ground floor, where are also situated managers quarters, kitchen, pantry, scullery, storerooms, etc.

[2] In 1913, a memorial chapel was constructed for Sister Cecil (Order of the Good Shepherd) who had managed the facility from 1909 until her death in 1912.

[11] It has been estimated to cost $7 and $10 million to repair Carlile House, and there is contention between Auckland Council and the United Church of Tonga as to the future of the building.