Part of Ireland’s pop culture past and priced at €1,319 per square metre, this storied, Smurf-blue house in northwest Donegal has seen a 25 per cent price drop and was home to a commune in the 1980s and 1990s.
There is a lot of talk online about women of a certain age whose children have grown up, deciding to move in with friends and adopt a commune style of life where they house share and enjoy communal meals with their housemates, but also live separate lives.
The TV show Florida-based The Golden Girls epitomised this.
On a different stretch of coastline, some 5,000 miles across the pond, is a large, historically significant Victorian seaside property that has performed the same function, but could also be a fine family home.
Address: Foirnis, Burtonport, Co. Donegal, F94 H0C1
Asking price: €595,000
Agent: Savills
Formerly known as Atlantis House and now called Foirnis after the Connemara island that the current owner’s mother came from, it gained notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s as the headquarters of the Atlantis Commune.
Led by Englishwoman Jenny James, the group were known locally as The Screamers because they practised primal scream therapy - a psychological method to release innermost emotions and trauma through shouting the house down.
They were the talk of the town and of the county.
The house became a local landmark with lots of gawkers driving by in the hope of hearing them. In her latest publication, novelist Carmel Harrington’s The Nowhere Girls covers the subject extensively.
While lots has been written about them, the commune’s focus was to heal in a place of beauty.
The Atlantis House residents saw beauty in their natural surroundings that many locals did not.
Their tenure coincided with a period when emigration was rife.
The local view was that you couldn’t eat scenery.
But Foirnis in Burtonport is much more than just a storied house; it’s a handsome home that is a long-established local landmark.
It combines architectural elegance with a compelling pop culture heritage.
Dating from 1895, this is a substantial property.
Built for a local merchant, it became a hotel in 1903 when the railway station opened at Burtonport and ran north to Letterkenny.
Guests included Eamon de Valera, Patrick Pearse and Maud Gonne.
The eight-bedroom, five-bathroom residence extends to 451 square metres of space and boasts a wealth of original features, including sash windows, high ceilings, decorative coving and period fireplaces.
Painted a Smurf blue, the double-bay-fronted property has two reception rooms, as well as a dining room and kitchen.
Its utility room is the size of its reception rooms, making it probably the largest of any house currently for sale.
It is set on well-maintained grounds of about 1.4 acres and has commanding sea views from its front rooms.
The property first came to market in May 2024, seeking €799,950.
The E BER-rated, which is in excellent decorative order, has been relisted through agents Savills seeking €595,000, which is a reduction of 25 per cent.
This is a price per square metre of €1,319, which offers value to someone looking for a property of this size in this part of the country.
The price may be enough to draw the next pop culture moment to this fishing village and gateway to Aranmore and Inishfree islands.
North-west Donegal is coming into its own. Nearby Killybegs native Garrett Carr's novel, The Boy From The Sea, garnered a lot of attention last year and was nominated for an Irish Book Award.
Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner grew up just out the road.
Donegal Airport, at Carrickfinn, is a distance of just 13 kilometres.
