Sydney's most enviable property? Vaucluse Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage for sale

It’s a timeless home in an unbeatable location – the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, built in 1881, on an expansive 2600 square metres on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

In the shadow of Vaucluse’s Macquarie lighthouse you could host the ultimate barbecue with a view, watching the whales frolic from your own backyard.

But despite the opportunity to live in an immaculately preserved home – on the top of the hill with no neighbours to speak of – some potential buyers were still, perhaps, a little disappointed.

“It is a heritage home, and they’re not for everyone,” said selling agent Robert Alfeldi, director of CBRE Residential Agency.

“It’s quite a unique property. People show up thinking they can put a second storey on. But it is what it is for a reason.”

The heritage elements limit what future owners can add, although the interiors have been sympathetically updated with the kitchen and bathroom in particular a more modern version of the originals.

Iconic properties like it are not commonly offered for sale and tend to create a buzz among appropriately wealthy would-be buyers.

The current owner is “Jeremy” Jianmin Song, the son of Nashan Group founder Zuowen Song and board chairman of Nanshan Group Co. Ltd.

He bought the property in October 2016, two weeks ahead of its scheduled auction, paying more than $7 million at the time.  It had last sold prior to that in 2002.

Mr Song also has another of his Vaucluse residences – St Malo, a six-bedroom Hopetoun Avenue mansion – on the market for more than $8 million.

While the top end of the market still craves the bespoke megamansion – see Leon Kamenev’s four-lot collection on Coolong Road, or Chris Hemsworth’s enormous Byron Bay compound – some prestige homes can be appreciated for what they already are.

Now that it had been on the market for a couple of months, Mr Alfredi said he’d had discussions with various parties.

“We have a lot of interest at various levels, both locally and internationally. Primarily, there has been interest from families looking for a substantial home in the area,” he said.

“There has most definitely been local interest,” he said, adding that Vaucluse generally was strongly in demand.

The agency had also promoted the property through their global offices, and had “more than the usual amount of interest” from Australians living abroad.

It is also advertised for rent at a price of $4200 a week, and was leased for a time to ModelCo founder Shelley Sullivan and her family,  although Mr Alfredi confirmed that it remained on the market.

“We’re just negotiating with a few parties. It’s still available,” Mr Alfredi said.  “It’s not vacant as such – the owners come and go. There’s no one living there at the moment.”

The vendors were selling, he said, because they were finding themselves spending more and more time abroad. The asking price is about $8.8 million to $9 million.

And though there’s limited scope to bring an extravagant vision of a modern mansion to life, the level of history and the heritage of the home was something to be cherished.

“It’s a home that needs to be lived in and looked after,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for someone to move into a beautiful bit of history.”