The former Seaview Guesthouse was built during a boom period in Bulli following the discovery of coal in the Illawarra escarpment in the early 1860s.
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The land on which the two-storey Victorian-style building was constructed was once part of 300 acres granted to one of Bulli's founders, William Bowman, in August 1841.
The discovery of coal on the escarpment 20 years later prompted the opening of Bulli's first colliery in 1862, and led to a substantial increase in the town's population during the next two decades. The opening of the railway line between Sydney and Wollongong in 1887 also contributed to the town's growth.
Two years later, coalminer Charles Plimmer built the Seaview Guesthouse, operating it under the name Ocean View Temperance Hotel.
It was used as a hotel until 1912, when a Mrs Moss took over the management of the property, turning it into a guest house between 1913 and 1915.
Mr Plimmer died in 1915, leaving the property to his widow Sarah, who appointed her son-in-law Charles William Wynn and his brother John as trustees of her estate upon her death in 1921.
Control of the property was subsequently handed to Dina Wynn, Hilda Russell and Myrtle Wynn after the Wynn brothers died in 1935 and 1941.
In November 1951 the property was sold to Corrimal carpenter Hans Notman, who then on-sold the property to long-term owner Franz Heinrich Rast, a Woonona butcher four months later.
Mr Rast owned the house for 48 years until Roads and Maritime Services bought the site in 2010.
Under his ownership, the place was known to have been leased for various uses including as a Salvation Army Hostel.
*Information care of heritage impact statement for the former Seaview Guesthouse at 330 Princes Highway, Bulli, prepared by consultants Godden Mackay Logan.
