The Carlen House, also known as the Carlen House Museum, is a historic house museum in Mobile

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The house was built in the Gulf Coast cottage

Creole cottage

Creole cottage is a term loosely used to refer to a type of vernacular architecture indigenous to the Gulf Coast of the United States. Within this building type comes a series of variations. An expanded version of this type of building is commonly referred to as Gulf Coast cottage, with the...

 style in 1843. It was the residence of Michael and Mary Carlen, Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 immigrants

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

, and their twelve children. Operated as a farm during the 19th century, the Mobile County School Board

Mobile County Public School System

Mobile County Public School System is a school district based in the Mobile County Public Schools Central Office Campus in an unincorporated area in Mobile County, Alabama United States....

 acquired 38 acres (15.4 ha) of the property from the Carlen family in 1923 as the site for a new public city school. As a result, the house is now on the northern edge of the Murphy High School campus. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

on June 12, 1981.