Description of Historic Place

Built in the 1880’s, LeQuille Mill is a one and one half storey industrial building built against a slope in Lequille, Annapolis County, NS. The main part of the mill has two adjoining sections, the lean to turbine house on the west gable wall and the office extension at the southeast corner. The main mill structure is of timber frame construction, with a gable roof and its exterior clad in cedar shingles. The entire building and a section of the surrounding property are included in the designation.

Heritage Value

LeQuille Mill is valued for its association with the industrial history of Nova Scotia. Built in the 1880’s, the mill sits on a site a few meters away from the first grist mill in North America that was built in 1606 by Sieur de Poutrincourt. The LeQuille Mill produced items used for building construction such as decorative moldings, casings and door and window frames. The mill is still used today to produce items for restoration projects in the Annapolis Royal area. The LeQuille Mill was one of the last mills in the province to be powered by a water turbine. In 1960 the power source was changed to an electric motor that turns the main drive shaft beneath the mill and supplies the power to most of the equipment in the mill.

LeQuille Mill is also valued as a rare building type. The main structure of the mill is a six bay, timber framed building, supported by masonry piers. The building is built against a slope and consists of a basement, first floor and a half storey above. Attached to the main part of the building is a lean-to, two-storey turbine house at the basement level of the west gable wall. In the 1920’s an office extension on the first floor at the southeast corner of the main structure was added. The entire structure is clad in cedar shingles, while the gable roof is clad in asphalt shingles to the north and metal roofing to the south. There are many windows throughout the building to allow for ventilation and light within the mill.

Source: Notice of Registration of Property as a Provincial Heritage Property, Provincial Property Heritage File no. 240.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the main building of LeQuille Mill relate to its industrial form and include:

- location of the building near the Poutrincourt Mill site;
- one-and-one-half storey wood frame ;
- clad in cedar shingles with five-inch wide corner boards;
- casings around all openings;
- small four paned window on the east elevation at the apex of the gable roof;
- row of twelve pane windows spaced along the north and south elevations and a pair of twelve pane windows on the east gable elevation of the first floor of the main building;
- pair of framed timber doors with two diagonally boarded panels at ground level;
- boarded loading door at the second floor flanked by two single hung six over six windows;
- small window at each side of the turbine house on the basement level.

Character-defining elements of the turbine house of LeQuille Mill include:

- two-storey lean-to off the main building;
- cedar shingle cladding;
- six-pane window on the south elevation;
- narrow boarded door at the first level.