The "Springfield" homestead, a bluestone-walled building high up on the peninsula with harbour and city views, was built by Scottish immigrant John Mathieson in 1864.
The 15.72ha property was listed as category 1 by the Historic Places Trust (HPT) in 1988 as being of historical significance and architectural quality. Then, in 2006, owners Marly and Peter Wheen completed significant restoration work with a conservation architect, under HPT guidance.
The property is on two titles, which can be bought together or separately: one covering 0.72ha, including the three-bedroom 235sq m homestead and outbuildings, and the other covering 15ha of farmland, with resource consent to build a second dwelling.
Bayleys Dunedin residential/lifestyle salesman Miles Rapley said that in 1871, local dairy farmers met in Springfield and formed the Otago Peninsula Cheese Factory Company, New Zealand's first co-operative cheese factory.
"In the first season, the co-operative's eight members produced a total of four tons of cheese," Mr Rapley said in a statement.
The property is being revalued because of the extent of restorations, and Mr Rapley expects both titles could be sold together for more than $1 million.
The restoration work uncovered the original flagstone paving underneath the master bedroom's floorboards, which became a bedroom feature, while the lounge has its original vaulted ceiling and features a single-bunk attic bed of the original owner.
"Significantly, this was the first dairy co-operative set up in New Zealand," Mr Rapley said.
The methods used at Springfield served as a model for the development and expansion of the dairy industry for the next 100 years, based on the co-operative model and paving the way for subsequent agricultural business models, he said.
The co-operative operated in a stone-walled barn and part of the kitchen for four years.
Three enamelled cast-iron tubs, each holding up to 50 pounds of curd, were set in the kitchen wing, while a wooden vat holding 100 gallons of milk was installed in the barn across the driveway.
The cheese-making was shifted to a new brick factory in Pukehiki in 1875, while John Mathieson and, later, son James farmed the property until 1917.
