Albert Jenks, who owns the former Maclennan railway station and other historic buildings in the deep south hamlet, said he was pleased heritage listing status had been granted to the area.
It becomes New Zealand's first entire early railway township on the register.
Mr Jenks said although the process had taken several years from conception, it had been worthwhile, as heritage status conferred the ability to apply for specific conservation funding from several bodies.
He encouraged other heritage property owners to consider applying for listing.
"I can think of a few buildings around the district that could benefit from this. This shows owners shouldn't be afraid to go down that road."
Although Maclennan's other historic buildings - many of which had been repurposed for storage or domestic use - were of significant heritage value, it was the well-preserved station building that had motivated the original application to Heritage NZ.
Built in 1920 to an official NZ Railways blueprint of the day, the Class A Number 3 station was possibly the only one of its type still in situ, Mr Jenks said.
For more than half a century it served the surrounding community in passenger, lumber and general freight capacities, until the branch line closed in 1971.
Since the building received heritage status in April, a delegation from Rail Heritage Trust NZ in Wellington had visited to offer its help in restoring the building.
Funding would be sought from local historic societies and museums.
Mr Jenks hoped eventually to open the building to the public as a "low-key" tourist attraction.
Heritage NZ Otago-Southland manager Denise Anderson said Maclennan had "ticked all the boxes" for inclusion on its list.
"We think Maclennan township is a tiny gem in the Catlins. It's aesthetically, architecturally, socially and historically significant as a microcosm of the importance of railway to rural New Zealand.
"We thank the owners and the wider community for engaging so positively with us, as we worked through the process of adding it to the list."
Although Heritage NZ did not fund conservation projects on private property, she said it would be "happy" to help Mr Jenks with specialist conservation advice regarding initiatives for the future of the site.
