Mona Lodge, 88 Nicholas Street, Ipswich

The house at 88 Nicholas Street was built circa 1858 by Thomas Lyons as a rental property. Hence its Duplex lay-out, two front doors and mirror-image living rooms and living quarters.

In 1873, the house was rented by Mary Darnley Morrison to be her private school premises. Mary used the house to conduct dancing, French and German classes as well as housing boarders. In 1875 Mrs. Morrison extended the building to house 14 boarders to cater for her school's demand.

When in 1885 the owner Mr. Lyons built “The Chestnuts” on the sub-divided block, Mrs. Morrison bought both houses. In 1901, in order to pay off debts, 88 Nicholas Street was sold to Charlotte Grace. Between 1910 and 1932 the house had several owners.

On 1 June 1937, 24 year old Constance Harriette Magdalene Tronc purchased the property (which became known as Mona Lodge) from Annie Elizabeth O'Grady. It transferred to Elizabeth Harriette Margaret Tronc (mother of Constance and wife of Michael Henry Tronc) on 11 March 1940. This was the same year that Constance married Percy John Simpson. Elizabeth died on 19 September 1966 and the property passed to her husband, Michael. He died on 19 November 1968 and the property was once again owned by Constance Simpson (nee Tronc). Constance and Percy were in the house at the time, caring for Elizabeth and Michael. Percy pre-deceased Constance and when Constance Simpson died on 24 April 1996 at the age of 83, the property passed to their only child.

In 1996, Alan and Linda Cooper acquired Mona Lodge and began the task of restoring the home. John and Ruth Wylie completed the restoration work over two and a half years from February 2015.

The bedroom used by visiting family from the 1960s to the 1980s was a large room on the north side of the house that ran for the whole length of the house, except for an ensuite (in today's terms) on the eastern end. The room which was probably 6 metres wide, could have been used by earlier boarders. The verandah on the east side of the house was the living and dining area. The verandah was initially enclosed with push blinds and later with louvers, it was a beautiful room with lino on the floor. 

The kitchen was basic, it had a large kitchen sink and a cold water tap only. The house was basically untouched by the Troncs and Constance (Con) Simpson (nee Tronc), from its initial purchase by Constance in 1937. At that time the internal rooms were dark with gas lights on the ceiling. The laundry was on the southern end outside. There was an outside toilet connected to sewerage on the southern end east of the property in those days. The front verandah wasn't used but it was enclosed with lattice.