Sometimes you hear a story so incredible, it is hard to believe I never knew. This hotel situated opposite the Central Station in Amsterdam is one of the first things you see when entering the city. I must have passed here a thousand times without noticing the strange addition of a little old house in the facade.
Dutch writer Thomas Rosenboom wrote a book about the history of this house and now a movie has been made about the story.
I watched the movie and I tell you the story.
In 1888 plans are being made to build a large hotel opposite Central Station. All inhabitants of the location where the hotel should be are offered money to leave. The occupant of number 46, violin maker Walter Vedder doesn't agree with the money, he wants more and refuses to leave his workshop and home. Together with his cousin a pharmasist at the other side of the country who is in trouble by acting unlawfully medical proceedings, they devise a plan to reach a solution with more money. The builder in the mean time loses his temper and starts to build the hotel anyway around the house.
The movie shows this very hilarious with all the building activities and noises around the house.
The movie shows this very hilarious with all the building activities and noises around the house.
The hotel is finished in the end with the old house encapsulated into the hotel building. The plans of the violinmaker end tragic with his death. In his workshop they found a Stradivarius violin, offered him by a Jewish family who were fleeing to America, which was worth a fortune.
The house is now in use as a souvenirshop.
