New techniques for stone cutting were imported from Britain in the early 19th century. It was possible then to produce smooth stones. Antoine Mallard was among the first to use this new system and therefore built his home in the French architectural style. He was a rich man. Following the paternal tradition, he was a butcher. Later he began to manufacture soap and candles using potash. He daily used to pick up the ashes of houses, ashes he used for the manufacture of soap. To this trade he added the making of candles he sold to important merchants of the city. Little by little, he left his son-in-law take the business over and became a person of property buying several lands in the ancient fortified city and even the Seigniory of island Bouchard.
The first tenant of this house was a lawyer, John Boston who stayed in the building until in 1815. Small traders followed, shoe repairers, a grocer, even innkeepers. A new soap and candle manufacturer succeeded then, Andres William Hood. He became owner of the House in 1861. Napoleon Lefebvre, a jeweler, bought it in 1885. The building remained in the family until 1967.
And there has been a somewhat special occupant in the person of Stanislas Valley. He opened the Silver Dollar Saloon and he is said to have encrusted in the floor some three hundred and fifty pieces of a US dollar. It was a pleasure for customers to be able to “walk on money”. This fun lasted until 1918, year of the closure of the Silver Dollar Saloon. Several shops settled in the House including Silver Dollar Sweets and the United Cigar Store. The Canadian Heritage of Quebec took possession of the building in 1969 and subsequently gave it to the city of Montreal.
The House underwent various transformations that do not always respected its style. Sloped roof had been replaced by a Victorian style garret. Stone walls were covered with artificial stones multicolored and brilliant. In 1983, the city of Montreal restored the building to what it was originally.
