[1] Glengariff (then called Dura) was erected in 1888-89 for bank manager Edward Jones by architect Hubert George Octavius Thomas.

The site consisting of some 19 blocks (described as sections 87-105 of allotment 16 portion 2) totally nearly 5 acres (2.0 ha) was acquired by Jones in 1886 from the Queensland Turf Club.

To overcome financial difficulties, parts of the original grant were sold off by the club; the first subdivisions (of a number of 4–5 acres (1.6–2.0 ha) blocks) occurred in 1878.

[1] The 1880s was a period of great economic prosperity in Queensland – no better evidenced than the resulting building boom which transformed the central business districts of many of the state's towns.

In the midst of the boom, the Commercial Bank of Australia (established in Melbourne in 1866) opened its Brisbane branch in 1886 with Edward Jones as its manager.

A number of other substantial houses had also been erected in the vicinity including: The two-storey masonry Dura was located to the southern (most elevated) part of the site with views from the upper floor of the surrounding district; the tower with its view to the south presumably providing a lookout to the Racecourse – a feature known to have been included for this purpose in additions to the nearby Stanley Hall undertaken in 1888-89 by architect G. H. M. Addison for racing aficionado Hubert Hunter.

To the north of this bay, the lithograph also shows windows at both levels with continuous hoods in place of the enclosed verandahs which now exist.

It appears however that the house (recorded by the 1895 McKellar's Map as Glen Aplin) was rented to the manager of the Queensland National Bank (DG Stuart) until about the time when acquired by T C Beirne and his family in 1898.

At his death in 1949 The Courier-Mail commented that Brisbane has lost a personality whose life has been woven strongly into its own progress and development for half a century.

[1] As TC Beirne's Fortitude Valley store was to be central to the public expression of the man so Glengariff (as the Beirnes renamed Dura) was to his private life: the Australian Dictionary of Biography describing his pastimes as mainly connected with his family life (he and his wife Ann Kavanagh had ten children, five daughters surviving infancy) and his home, Glengariff, at Hendra, with its beautiful grounds, tennis and croquet courts.

"On moving in, the bamboos were cleared away from the house but a lovely line of bunya pines along the west side (which remain today) was left; a large portion of the land was ploughed and crops of pineapples and rosellas, and lucerne for the cows were grown.

[1] In 1923 the Queensland Society Magazine (November 1923 p23) published photographs showing sweeping gravel paths including a circular drive to the front of the house, the entrance hall (by which time the stair which physical evidence suggests may have been moved is in its existing position), the double archwayed drawing room containing many art treasures, and dining room.

An undated sewerage detail plan also shows the circular brick underground water tank located to the north of the house (which remains in existence).

In his domestic work, Dods reassessed local timber construction refining familiar elements including the planning and detailing of verandahs.

Changes undertaken by the Church include the removal of a lift (installed by TC Beirne for use by his wife); the installation of Archbishop O'Donnell's coat of arms above the front door and fireplace in the drawing room (which remain) and the replacing of the timber entrance gates (located near the corner of Burilda and Derby Streets) and paling fence with chain wire.

Glengariff is a two-storey brick residence located on the corner of Derby and Burilda Streets Hendra, the heart of Brisbane's racing industry.

It is set in generous grounds which have been reduced in size by the formation of TC Beirne Park to the north (c. 1949) and to the east the subdivision for residential purposes of land (1993) that was originally occupied by a tennis court and croquet green.

The principal elevation facing Derby Street is asymmetric and has a rendered brick entry portico with a three-storey tower that rises through the first floor and above the gutter line and is finished with a low hipped roof.

The walls beneath the verandahs are painted and unpainted brick with rendered quoins on the corners and surrounding doors, windows.

[1] Glengariff, which now has plan form that is roughly T-shaped, is entered via the entrance portico through heavy timber double doors which have leadlight glass head and side windows.

This room opens onto the verandah via French doors in the south and east elevations, and connects to the kitchen (inserted 1985) which has been fitted out in contemporary fashion.

Constructed in 1888–89, Glengariff (or Dura as it was then known) is one of a number of large villa residences erected throughout Brisbane during the late nineteenth century.

The semi-rural villas, of which Glengariff (with its remaining grounds) is typical, sought to combine the amenities of both the city and country and provide evidence of the marriage of buoyant economic times with the aspirations of those who benefited from them.

[1] The layout of the front drive and the line of Bunya Pines survive as evidence of early garden plans; the brick water tank is believed to be rare.

The house and grounds are of considerable aesthetic significance, in particular the qualities of the cast-iron work, joinery, glasswork, and the Dods additions.

For half a century Glengariff was the home of prominent Brisbane Catholic retailer, businessman, and benefactor TC Beirne and his family.

Thus Glengariff was not only the home of one of the city's most influential citizens but also became a symbol of his collaboration with another, Archbishop James Duhig, who both individually and together did so much to shape the history (including the social and built fabric) of Brisbane in the first half of the century.