Daan van der Have

In a historical vegetable garden on a Dutch estate, the 85 year-old pruning master and the gardener tend to the espaliers. As they prune, the men chat about food, the weather, the world and they share their knowledge of horticulture. Fifteen years they have spent working on the pear arbour. Will it finally close over this year?

Few buildings tell the story of a city as vividly as Hotel New York does for Rotterdam. Originally constructed in 1901 as the headquarters of the Holland-America Line, this landmark building has witnessed over a century of commerce, migration, war, decline, and urban renewal. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and a diverse range of interviews, the film weaves together the personal accounts of those who knew the building from the inside with the historical evolution of Rotterdam as a port city. From an office building and squatted property to its eventual transformation into a hotel, "The Secret of Hotel New York" presents the story of an enduring symbol of Rotterdam’s capacity for reinvention.