It was only a few months ago that Australian-born “NCIS” star Sean Murray — an 18-season, 375+ episode veteran of the immensely popular police procedural that consistently ranks as one of the most watched scripted shows on television — invited People magazine over for a tour of his 4,200-square-foot home in L.A.’s Encino community that he and wife Carrie spent ten years designing and customizing to meet the functional needs and aesthetic desires of his family. He proudly showed where a dated glass-panel room divider between the foyer and dining room was swapped out for a more timeless slatted wood screen, he stopped briefly at the recently installed dry bar that, even though he does not drink liquor, was chock-a-block with top-shelf booze, and he passed through the roomy kitchen where some jazzy tiles were added to the backsplashes.
As it turns out, by the time that video was published, the Murrays had already begun their search for a substantially bigger and, as it turns out, fancier house, and they quickly settled on a nearly 6,500-square-foot contemporary home in a leafy and affluent if not-much-heralded area of the decidedly suburban Tarzana area of the San Fernando Valley. The deal went down for $4.85 million, more than twice the almost $1.9 million they paid for their Encino house.
Built from the ground up, completed in 2019, and not adhering to any particular architectural vernacular, the two-story residence in Tarazana sits behind gates on more than one-third of an acre with half a dozen bedrooms, 6.5 crisply modern bathrooms, and airy, light-filled open-plan living spaces that spill out to the resort-style backyard for a relaxed indoor-outdoor lifestyle that is so quintessentially Californian it’s kind of a cliché.
The property was jointly listed with Lina Soifer at Compass and Natalie Kraiam at Keller Williams. The Murrays were represented in the transaction by Courtney Poulos at ACME Real Estate.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Twelve-foot-tall double front doors set into a shallow porch at the edge of the double-gated driveway unceremoniously open directly into the sprawling great room.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com A low, linear fireplace in an asymmetrically paneled wall serves as a focal point of the great room, while a glass door next to the fireplace leads to a roomy wine cellar where Murray can store and display all the alcohol that he himself does not consume
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Image Credit: Realtor.com A vast, nearly floor-to-ceiling wall of glass disappears into the walls in the great room that includes a sleek gourmet kitchen with high-end designer appliances, two-toned black and beige cabinetry, and black marble (or marble-like material) that waterfalls off the ends of two large islands.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Just off the entrance, a steel, glass and wood staircase makes a striking and muscular ascent to the upper floor, a powder room is all aglow thanks to back-lit stone walls, and the screening room sports upholstered wall panels for sound baffling, along with a starry night sky splashed across the ceiling.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com With two built-in work spaces, a lofted second-floor lounge leads to a handful of guest and family bedrooms.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Featuring a beamed and vaulted ceiling and a fireplace column sheathed in swirly grey and white stone, the homeowner’s retreat includes a deluxe bathroom and a long, wide balcony with backyard overlook.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com In addition to the great wall of disappearing glass, the blurring of indoor and outdoor spaces is additionally enhanced by the white floor tiles that extend from the great room out to the lengthy dining and lounging loggia that overlooks the pancake-flat, high-hedged and faux-grassed backyard.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Two detached pavilions flank an outdoor kitchen and super-sized fire pit alongside the stone-edged negative-edge swimming pool, one a detached guest suite with bath, the other a single room outfitted a fitness space. Beyond the pool are a child-sized soccer pitch and a sport court.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com In addition to his old house in Encino and his new house in Tarzana, Murray is also the owner of a charming property that comprises a pair of petite bungalows in L.A.’s Los Feliz area that was scooped up a few years ago for not quite $1.4 million.
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