WESTEND
Tips and Links for Westend
1. Original | The house, built around 1870, is the oldest on Ahornallee and comes from the earliest development phase of the villa colony. Rich facade decoration distinguishes the building: classical stucco work, colorful painted decors, and a wooden winter garden with carved ornamentation. Theodor Fontane sends his regards | Ahornallee 47
2. Neighboring house of Villa Ibrox | The grand main building, which the major investor Heinrich Quistorp had privately built in his Westend, is no longer. This neo-gothic miniature castle gives a good idea of the fresh affluence of the housing speculators of the time – it could serve as a wonderful backdrop in Edgar Wallace’s films | Ulmenallee 3
3. Action in Villa quarter | The “dynamite director” and actor Harry Piel lived in the villa inspired by the Italian Renaissance. He was the internationally renowned German action film specialist of the '20s and '30s. His career ended after the war, though – an uncommon result of denazification due to his early membership in the SS | Ulmenallee 12
4. Arkadien | Green and embedded in a luxurious garden, here lies a villa in classic Schinkel style. Since 1872, young bodies grow forth from the opulent acanthus covings in the balcony lattice | Ulmenallee 17
5. Simmel's Center | The residence of the sociologist Georg Simmel still stands, decorated by a porcelain memorial plaque. Was it here, in this almost rural setting, where the great scholar wrote his famous essay "The Metropolis and Mental Life"? | Nußbaumallee 14
6. House of architectural styles | From late Gothic to Baroque, this facade has it all. A city castle on a small scale, the building recreates a long architectural history, in order to project the aristocratic attitude of the early landlord | Eichenallee 16-18
7. Midpoint of the old villa colony | This ring-shaped decorative square received its name from the Branitz castle near Cottbus. Prince Pückler was active there and constructed one of his famous landscape parks. No trespassing on the grass | Branitzer Platz
8. Apartment house at Branitzer Platz | Alfrend Braun: a German career. Acting student of Max Reinhardt, radio pioneer, fled the Nazis, back in Berlin at the end of the '30s, screenplay author of the propaganda botch "Kolberg" and then? First director of the broadcasting station Freies Berlin. Here was his abode | Kastanienallee 34
9. Renaissance castle | Loire instead of London. Despite the English paradigm, in Westend are architectural styles from many different countries. This playful villa with a round tower and conical roof exhibits from French influences. Despite appearances, Walt Disney did not have this one contracted | Rüsternallee 18, corner of Kastanienallee
10. Bar Zur Haltestelle | Directly across from the station's entrance lies this traditional Berlin dive bar with all sorts of knickknacks on the walls. Steering wheels and ship models in various corners give the place a port atmosphere. Family-owned for almost 50 years. The crowd is older and local, but newcomers are also welcome | Spandauer Damm 86
11. Plaster molding studio for Germany's national museums | Those that find Museum Island overrun by crowds can find peace and quiet here while admiring art's most beautiful sculptures and reliefs. The largest still existing plaster molding studio in the world produces perfect reproductions with its 7,000 molds | Sophie-Charlotten-Straße 17-18 | http://www.smb.museum/smb/sammlungen/institut
12. Church of the St. Kammilus Congregation | The holy Kamillus from Lellis – not Don Camillo – was the namesake for this expectional church from 1932 whose upper floors house a Catholic retirement home | Klausenerplatz 12-13 | www.sankt-kamillus-gemeinde.de
13. Mata Terraristik | From the royal python to the East African spiny-tailed lizard, all sorts of animals creep and crawl throughout this store. Here visitors can confront their phobias | Gardes-du-Corps-Straße 5 | www.matamataberlin.de
14. Bar Zur Linde | A vibrant Kiez crowd of '68ers, students, and other usual suspects has made smokey pub their home. On the dive's birthday, the regulars get first dibs of seats at the bar | Sophie-Charlotten-Straße 97 | www.zurlindeberlin.de
15. Atelier Kunstlager | Large display windows afford a glimpse into the dazzling world of image and light sculptures of the Peruvian artist duo Noktiluca. Take one step and the big city is suddenly far away | Christstraße 29a | www.noktiluca.com
16. Ziegenhof | Trees instead of concrete, a wildlife center for kids instead of an underground garage – in the '80s, as bulldozers flattened the "new homeland,” the unruly residents kept the inner area of this block away from radical modernization. Instead, a DIY green oasis was formed with volunteers to take care of goats, geese, chickens and ducks | Danckelmannstraße 16
17. Bar Dicker Wirt | Between Knobelsdorff and Seelingstraße are lots of appealing stores, from fine delicatessens to bookshops. This traditional dive bar institution outperforms since 1984: eight different well cared-for beers on tap whet the whistles of aging squatters and recently arrived lifelong students | Danckelmannstraße 43 | www.dicker-wirt.de
18. Evelyn's Hundesalon "Snobby Dogs" | This is the destination for dogs looking for a new fur coat. The dressing tables are right in the display window – worth seeing the poodle make-overs | Sophie-Charlotten-Straße 36 | www.snobbydogs.de
19. Pinselheinrich | The famous Berlin illustrator and photographer Heinrich Zille lived in this house for almost 40 years, until his death. How would he have found the current meals? | Sophie-Charlotten-Straße 88