Known to locals as the Lewis Cottage, the two-room abode in Deborah Bay was put on the market last year and bought by Wade Nicholson who plans on chipping away at it on weekends to refurbish it.
Mr Nicholson said he was focused on restoring a "piece of West Harbour history".
He did not have any plans for it when it was completed.
"Basically, we’re just getting it tidied up to scratch and then we’ll come up with a game plan when we’re finished."
He said it would be "warm and cosy", with a fresh lick of paint and back in its original state when the work was completed.
It included installing a chimney in the 7.3m x 3.7m cottage.
"We want to keep it as it was back when the Lewis family had it," he said.
There was no time frame on when the work would be done.
"Hopefully, it’s done this year, but it depends on how much time I get to spend on it."
Mr Nicholson said he loved the history and the spot on the harbour where the cottage sat.
"Just the location and history spins my wheels," he said.
The cottage had good bones and required mostly cosmetic work.
He would employ a builder, where needed, to help do it up.
The cottage was owned by the Lewis family, who have had a long association with Deborah Bay, starting with Robert and Emma Lewis, who arrived in Otago in the 1860s.
Their son William and his wife Adelaide bought the cottage in 1906, and raised their family of 17 there, where their diet included fish and rabbits.
Five other children who did not survive infancy are believed to be interred in the sea wall there.
He rejected modern comforts such as a telephone and electric stove.
He left the property to nephews Mick and Keith, and niece Mona Cromb (nee Lewis).
They were in their late 70s and early 80s and felt it was becoming too difficult to maintain the cottage so they sold it.
