Carlile House

A rare institution built on private philanthropy

Standing in Grey Lynn since 1886, Carlile House was built as the Costley Training Institute, one of a small number of purpose-built boys' homes and training institutions surviving from nineteenth-century New Zealand. It was made possible by a substantial bequest from Auckland businessman Edward Costley, brought into being through special legislation named for him.

Designed by architect Robert Jones Roberts in the Classical-Italianate style, the institute trained deserving young people selected from industrial schools, preparing them for apprenticeships and giving many a path they might not otherwise have had. Workshop and gymnasium facilities from that original training programme still survive on the site today.

Built of brick with limestone dressings under a slate roof, the complex carries the ordered, civic character typical of its period, a building designed to signal purpose and permanence rather than domestic comfort.

The institute closed in 1908, and the building continued in service as the Richmond Road Children's Home until 1930. From 1935 to around 1969 it was the headquarters and training school of the Church Army, the period from which the name Carlile House comes. In 1976–77, the chapel was redeveloped into a church by a Tongan community group. The wider building has stood vacant for decades since, with restoration estimated in the millions of dollars.

Tohu Heritage documented Carlile House in July 2026, preserving its exterior in photorealistic 3D.