Greeted at the front door by Vivienne, we walked into the block turret where I spied the first of the house's nine circular windows as we made our way down the spiral staircase.
"The children have all gone and everybody's getting old and not as well as they were,'' she said as she led us past two bedrooms to the dining room and kitchen area.
"There are three pods. It goes around a central curve.''
And like all good castles there are even some hidden rooms, Vivienne said, pointing up to an attic hidden in one of the bedrooms.
The house is about four-storeys tall but is spread across about seven landings, each separated by a flight of six stairs.
"Basically it's four floors but has lots of half levels. You tend to live on one level really.''
The master bedroom uses the alcove under the stairs as a wardrobe, and further down is a circular library adorned with tribal carvings and an ancient polyphone, which occupies the bottom of the entrance turret.
Mezzanine-style hallways jut into high-stud rooms, creating an array of levels not often seen in homes.
At first glance the house may seem castle-like but inside it is anything but dark and dank.
Vivienne and her husband, David, moved their family from Wellington to Tauranga in 1979 and spent about three months looking for a house before they came across the castle.
"We thought Tauranga was full of quite boring three-bedroom brick and tile houses,'' Vivienne said. ``We thought this was quite interesting.
"It was one of those love-at-first-sight houses. It was just so nice to see something that had personality.''
The design was inspired by the works of Wellington architect Ian Athfield.
Since the family moved in they have added their own touches by removing some walls and repainting it to lighten up the home. Vivienne said she doubted they would be able to find a house that would top the castle, but finding something smaller was her main requirement.
Putting a price on the well-known Tauranga residence was difficult, she said.
"It's so different that they all say they can't tell us what it's worth.''