Back in 1996, around the same time he won the second of four Emmys for his legendary role as hot-headed detective Andy Sipowicz on the long-running ABC cop drama NYPD Blue, actor Dennis Franz and his real estate developer wife Joanie doled out roughly $2 million for a coastal retreat in Santa Barbara County’s affluent Montecito enclave. Fast-forward almost two decades later, and the Hamptons-style estate has returned to the market for nearly $18 million. Michael Calcagno and Trisha Pennestri of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties share the listing.
Originally a historic one-story farmhouse, the residence has since been extensively updated in collaboration with the late architect Peter Becker of Becker Henson Niksto Architects and features a total of seven bedrooms and nine baths in roughly 9,000 square feet sprawled across two separate wings spanning two stories. Period and modern details abound in the form of hardwood floors, wood-beam ceilings, custom millwork, and moldings, while French doors off all the main rooms offer seamless indoor-outdoor environs.
The great room has a stone fireplace and a steel chandelier dangling from a cathedral ceiling.
Jim Bartsch
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Resting on just under two acres of fully walled land in the adorable Hedgerow neighborhood, near Miramar Beach and the Upper Village shopping center, the brown wood-shingled and white-trimmed structure is hidden away off a private street behind hedge-lined walls and double gates. The driveway empties out at a circular natural stone motor court centered around a tiered fountain, with adjacent steps meandering their way up to a covered porch entry.
Once inside, a slate-clad foyer flows to a fireside great room resting beneath a vaulted ceiling, as well as a green-hued dining room that seats up…