“This is the house that ‘Night Court’ built!” Markie Post proudly shares with ‘Closer,’ but the North Hollywood home she helped design is more Southern belle than anything on her classic NYC sitcom.

Why did she and her writer-producer hubby, Michael A. Ross, build a Tara–inspired home in their native California? “When I was working in Georgia, we fell in love with the South’s architecture and its gracious, friendly atmosphere,” Markie, 64, reveals. “Our house has that feel to it.”

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Markie as Christine Sullivan on ‘Night Court.’

They were also inspired by pals Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason, the creators of her 1992–1995 sitcom ‘Hearts Afire,’ who gifted them with rocking chairs for the front porch and a first edition of Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone With the Wind.’

Related: Spring Clean Your Home With These Expert Organizing Tips from The Productivity Pro Laura Stack!

In the early ’90s, Markie and Michael purchased the home that sat on their current half-acre. “I’d been on ‘Night Court’ for eight years, so it was the perfect time to invest in something,” she recalls. The building had a few issues, so they decided to replace it with the current four-bedroom, five-bath house, modeled on Louisiana’s historic Rosedown Plantation.

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Markie and her husband, Michael, in February 1986.

Markie loved its “majestic” exteriors — including two large, welcoming front porches and an elegant veranda out back where Michael, 58, often writes — but for the interior, she deviated from the traditional hallways and tiny rooms of a typical plantation–style home.

To read the full story on Markie, pick up the new issue of ‘Closer Weekly,’ on newsstands now!