The enchanting 1860s Pommy Lodge cottage, North Willoughby sold

The 1860s Pommy Lodge, the former church and manse, passed in at $1.4 million at its weekend North Willoughby auction has been since sold for $1.65 million.

It was the home of the late artist John Butler, whose family owned the property for around four decades.

Forsyth agents Di Burcham and James Snodgrass had the 1860s sandstone offering.

The enchanting cottage is located at 105 Penshurst Street.

The site contained a two roomed wooden school building, which Eliza Davies opened as a Bush Mission School in June, 1862, the first school on the north side.

The following year in July, it was relaunched as the North Sydney National School, when it came under the government school ­system.

The building of Willoughby Public School in 1863 made it redundant.

The North Sydney Congregational Church was officially opened in 1872. In the late 1880s the Congregationalists built a larger church on the corner of Church Street and the old church became the manse.

In 1896 George Leafe, owner of a general store in Penshurst Street, bought the manse and converted it into a residence.