A windmill transformed into a private residence is for sale

Every day, houses go up for sale in Vaudreuil-Soulanges. But some homes attract more attention than others. Such is the case of the windmill converted into a private residence on boulevard Perrot, in Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot. 

According to the Centris listing, the residence has 18 rooms, including two bedrooms, one bathroom and one powder room. “The fourth floor features a breathtaking mezzanine under an 18-foot-high conical roof,” the description reads. 

Valued at $466,400, according to the 2023 municipal assessment, the house is for sale for the tidy sum of $599,000. In 2024, municipal taxes were $3,830, while school taxes were $404.

Built around 1767, the mill was originally located in Dorion. In 1954, colonel and First World War veteran Roger Maillet acquired it for the modest sum of $100. He proceeded to dismantle the structure, stone by stone, and move it to his estate in Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, thus avoiding its demolition. 

The mill was subsequently converted into a private residence.

Colonel Maillet's estate featured an eclectic mix of architectural elements. According to the Centre d'archives de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, the estate, known as L'Arche, included elements from the Hôtel Windsor and a chapel whose entrance door came from the former Pied-du-Courant prison, where many of the Patriotes of 1837-1838 were imprisoned.

On his death in 1960, Colonel Maillet bequeathed his mill to the Quebec government, which refused, as the building no longer had any historic value. In April 1965, a fire burned down part of the Arche estate, but fortunately the mill survived.