Tighnabruaich is a heritage-listed villa at 203 Clarence Road, Indooroopilly, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

The house was constructed around 1889 as the home of Henry Charles Stanley, the Chief Engineer for Railways in Queensland.

The view of Chelmer, across the Brisbane, could occasionally be reminiscent of the other narrow waterway, its steep banks with lush vegetation and its steam-ferry traffic.

In April 1873, the portion was transferred to Louis Stamm, a German-born Brisbane businessman who had pursued a wide-ranging career in Queensland since 1855.

[1] Much of central Indooroopilly remained undeveloped and isolated until the arrival of the Brisbane to Ipswich Railway into the district, in the mid-1870s.

In June 1877, an extension westward of this new road was surveyed, cutting through portion 46, to connect the new settlements in the east of the district to Indooroopilly railway station.

This provided a considerable impetus for closer residential settlement in the suburb and a small township developed around the railway station.

In the last quarter of the 19th century a number of fine villas were built along the banks of the Brisbane River, within reasonable proximity to the railway station.

[1] At some period prior to June 1891, Louis Stamm sold re-subdivision 3, of subdivision 1, to Henry Stanley.

He emigrated to Brisbane in 1862 and practised privately before gaining employment with the Queensland government in the office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin, in 1863.

Tighnabruaich's river-frontage overlooked the railway that brought H.C. Stanley to the area, and the Albert Bridge that did so much to assist the development of the district.

The roof built with a number of steeply pitched gables and dormer windows, a feature popular in other domestic-scaled Gothic revival buildings, and was clad originally with timber shingles.

[1] The estate was conceived as having the villa set in a park landscape and so, about the time that Tighnabruaich was being built, the rest of the property was cleared of vegetation, with the exception of a few specimen Eucalypt trees.

The house then appears to have remained vacant for nearly two decades, from that period onwards until the military requisitioned it for use during the Second World War.

There is a suggestion that Tighnabruaich served as a private hospital in the late 1930s, under a Dr. Underwood, but details of this period are sketchy.

[1] An article written for The Queenslander in 1932 described various elements of the grounds of Tighnabruaich, including: some "fine old gum trees" in the cow paddock adjacent to the railway line; entrance gates to Clarence Street giving access to a drive lined by Camphor Laurels; a tennis court to the south east of the drive; hedging, steps to the lower grounds, accessed through a creeper-clad archway; and some "fine Jacarandas and other flowering trees".

[1] Mr. Hemming's impressive property portfolio included another house, Witton Manor, which was also located in Indooroopilly, though further upstream.

Between 1916 and 1919, Witton Manor was moved – the detail of the not-inconsiderable enterprise is sadly missing – from its original site and onto the extensive grounds of Tighnabruaich.

During the war many huts and tents were assembled on the grounds for use by American soldiers; brick cell blocks were constructed in the center of the property, north west of the main house, to accommodate Japanese prisoners of war being held for interrogation; two interrogation rooms were erected to the immediate east of the main house; an Orderly's Office was established on the north west side of the main driveway off Clarence Road; a translation room was erected on the tennis court; Witton House functioned as the Sergeants' Mess; and Tighnabruaich was partitioned for office accommodation.

Toward the end of the war, the Australian Army decided to hold on to Tighnabruaich: the property was transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia on 13 June 1945.

The Commonwealth retained the grounds of the property, but Tighnabruaich house, on a reduced 1.19 hectare plot, was sold freehold to private owners.

[1] The principal point of entry to the building is in the north elevation, where an elaborate covered porch provides shelter for the main entrance.

[1] Generally the interior of the house has plaster ceilings, timber boarded floors and very fine stained-cedar joinery.

The ground floor contains a number of large public rooms with bay windows and French doors, arranged around a central stair hall.

An entrance vestibule with a tessellated tiled floor leads to the stair hall through an arched opening filled with a carved timber screen.

[1] The central stairway is an open well with a half-turn timber flight with landings and has very fine cedar joinery including turned balusters, prominent newel posts and spandrel panelling.

[1] The grounds include large areas of lawn to the north of the house, the early carriageway lined with mature trees and a tennis court to the east of the drive.

As one of a group of substantial, late 1880s residences constructed in Brisbane, Tighnabruaich also contributes to our understanding of the nature of the Queensland economic "boom" of this period.

The property is also significant for its military associations, initially with the work of a Section of the Allied Intelligence Bureau during World War II and then, during the second half of the 20th century, as the showcase residence of the officers commanding the Australian Army in Queensland.