Windmill 'De Otter' restored to its orginal splendour

The windmill 'De Otter', dating from 1631 has been restored completely and is running again. The sawing windmill has sawn through its first tree in years.

The windmill is special for Amsterdam, because it is the only wood sawing windmill left in Amsterdam. Also, it is the only windmill that still stands on the same location where it was originally built. It used to be quite normal to move a windmill to another location, if it was needed somewhere else.

'De Otter' has been the subject of various court cases, earlier in this century. The previous owner wanted to move the windmill to a location outside Amsterdam, where the wings of the windmill could catch more wind. Reason for the move was the building of the a tall apartment complex, that, according to the owner took away the wind.
The court would, however, not allow the move. The owner decided to not put the windmill in use again, warning that the stand-still would eventually damage the windmill.

In April 2019, the windmill got new owners. They completely restored the windmill, and are now developing plans to open it up again for the public. It is unknown at this point when this will happen. So, as yet, the windmill can't be visited, but it can be viewed from the outside.