The PCH water tower house has always attracted looky-loos. Recently, some got a look inside.

Investors who bought and refurbished the iconic home opened its doors to the public on Saturday for a one-day tour.

See also: Landmark PCH water tower house of Sunset Beach sells for $1.5 million

“We really tried to have some fun with it,” said Scott Ostlund of Coto de Caza, one of the new owners and a commercial real estate agent. “We wanted to give some authenticity to the house. We really wanted to tell more of a story about it.”

On display are retro-styled rooms with hefty, weathered-looking pieces, mini trains that chug along on tracks near the ceilings, a curved, 145-gallon aquarium and bar, and plaques celebrating the tower’s history.

One plaque touts it as one of the world’s tallest homes, about 100 feet. Even a bathroom, dubbed “burlap and barrels” for its vintage decor, was affixed with a plaque on how commodities were transported in the early days of the original tower.

Broad windows opening outward and a wrap-around deck provide unobstructed, 360-degree views, from a vast stretch of the Pacific Ocean to the mountains.

Like a previous owner, Ostlund plans to offer the four-bedroom house as a vacation rental.

While the tower is located in Seal Beach, at 1 Anderson St. just off Pacific Coast Highway, the bordering hamlet of Sunset Beach has always claimed it.

Photos on social media of Saturday’s open house showed lines around the block and down the highway.

Originally built in the 1800s to service steam engines along the California coast, the tank was replaced in the 1940s. It held more than 75,000 gallons of water for a few more decades. Then, after a “save our tower” movement, it was redesigned.

In 1980, developer George Armstrong and his partner Robert Odell, an anesthesiologist, paid $59,000 for the termite-infested pile of wood and its 35-by-35 lot. Armstrong’s son, Dan, a building contractor, joined in to create a house that would replace the tank but replicate its look.

In 1995, they sold it to Gerald Wallace for $800,000. Wallace tried to sell the property in the late 1990s for $3.5 million. And then again in 2004 for $5 million, in 2006 for $8 million and in 2008 for $4.5 million. But no one ever bought it.

Then in July, Ostlund and his partner quietly snapped it up for a cool $1.5 million.

Recently, the owners placed the home, billed as “the world’s ultimate beach house,” on vrbo.com, where it’s offered for $675 or $995 a night and $4,500 or $6,750 a week.

And they continue to tinker with it.

“It’s a little bit like Disneyland,” Ostlund said, “in that it will never be finished.”

Contact the writer: mkalfus@ocregister.com Twitter: @mkalfus