Westend () is a locality of the Berlin borough Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Germany. It emerged in the course of Berlin's 2001 administrative reform on the grounds of the former Charlottenburg borough. Originally a mansion colony, it is today a quite densely settled, still affluent territory adjacent to Berlin's inner city in the east.

Geography

Westend is situated west of Berlin's inner city on Spandauer Berg, the northern peak of the sandy Teltow plateau between the river valleys of Spree and

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe and long. However, the direct distance from its source to its mo ...

. It is centered on Theodor-Heuss-Platz, a large square, from where the Heerstraße arterial road, part of the Bundesstraße 2 and Bundesstraße 5 highways, runs west towards the Berlin city limits. In the west and north, Westend borders on the Berlin Spandau borough. The locality also includes the neighbourhoods of Neu-Westend and Ruhleben, a

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

housing area of the 1920s. The site of the former Ruhleben internment camp, a World War I detention camp for civilians, today is part of the adjacent Spandau district. Furthermore, the areas of Pichelsberg, Heerstraße and Eichkamp at the northern rim of the Grunewald forest belong to Westend. It is also home of the Messe Berlin exhibition grounds (where the International Green Week and the ''

Internationale Funkausstellung The IFA ( ) or Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (International radio exhibition Berlin, a.k.a. 'Berlin Radio Show') is one of the oldest industrial exhibitions in Germany. Between 1924 and 1939 it was an annual event, but from 1950 it was ...

'' are held) and of the Olympiastadion built for the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

History

When upon the 1806

Battle of Jena–Auerstedt The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt (; older spelling: ''Auerstädt'') were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Pruss ...

victorious

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

moved into Berlin, he had a military camp set up on Spandauer Berg, though he himself chose nearby Charlottenburg Palace for accommodation. In May 1808 General Claude Victor-Perrin, French governor of Berlin, pitched the large ''Camp Napoleonbourg'' here, however, he folded up his tents already in November and wasteland was left behind. On the road from Charlottenburg to Spandau, the ''Spandauer Bock'' brewery was established in 1840, together with a popular pub catering though of doubtful reputation. The ''Villenkolonie Westend'' was developed from 1866 on as a residential area for the wealthy bourgeoisie of Berlin and named after the West End of London. The beginnings, overshadowed by the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, were quite modest and the first land settlement company around the Stettin merchant

Johannes Quistorp Johannes Heinrich Quistorp (14 November 1822 – 9 May 1899 ) was a entrepreneur and philanthropist in Szczecin, Stettin, Germany (today Szczecin, Poland). He was also the founder of a number of regional philanthropic projects. Life Johannes Qu ...

and architect Martin Gropius collapsed in the Panic of 1873. Nevertheless, the development was boosted by Berlin's population pressure after the unification of Germany and similar to other mansion colonies such as Lichterfelde West or Grunewald, most of the premises were overbuilt by the end of the century. The area was connected to the Berlin Ringbahn with the inauguration of Westend station in 1877. In 1889 a

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...

track opened, which was relocated to Ruhleben in 1908. Westend again became a garrison town, when in the 1890s the 3rd Brigade regiment No. 3 ('' Königin Elisabeth'') barracks of the German 2nd Guards Infantry Division were erected on the eastern Spandauer Berg slope. On 8 June 1913, the Deutsches Stadion was inaugurated in the northern Grunewald forest, designated as venue of the

1916 Summer Olympics The 1916 Summer Olympics (german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1916), officially known as the Games of the VI Olympiad, were scheduled to be held in Berlin, German Empire, but were eventually cancelled for the first time in its 20-year history due to ...

that were never held due to World War I and later rebuilt as Olympiastation.

Sights

Hausansicht GKM 2016 Bildarchiv GKM E Duch Web

* Funkturm, erected in 1926 on the Messe Berlin grounds * Haus des Rundfunks by Hans Poelzig, 1931, today broadcasting centre of the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) * Deutschlandhalle arena, 1935, demolished in 2011 * Messe Berlin arena, 1936/1937 * St. George's Anglican Church, 1950 * Epiphany Church, built in 1906 according to plans designed by Jürgen Kröger * Olympic Stadium with

Bell Tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

(''Glockenturm'') and Waldbühne amphitheatre by Werner March, 1934–36 * Unité d'Habitation with Modulor scale by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

, part of the Interbau exhibition 1957 * Studio of sculptor Georg Kolbe, 1928/1929, today a museum *

Internationales Congress Centrum The Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin (abbreviated ICC Berlin), located in the Westend locality of the Berlin borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, is one of the largest conference centres in the world. It is used for conventions, theatric ...

(ICC) conference centre, 1975–1979 * Mommsen Stadium, 1930, home of the Tennis Borussia Berlin football club * Westend hospital of the German Red Cross * Spandauer Berg water tower, 1909 * Villas along the street ''Am Rupenhorn'' by

Erich Mendelsohn Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...

, 1930 and Wassili and

Hans Luckhardt Hans Luckhardt (16 June 1890 in Berlin-Charlottenburg – 8 October 1954 in Bad Wiessee) was a German architect and the brother of Wassili Luckhardt, with whom he worked his entire life. He studied at the University of Karlsruhe with Hermann Billing ...

, 1932 * Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Cemetery

Transportation

Westend is served by the Berlin S-Bahn '' Ringbahn'' lines S41, S42 and S46 at the stations ''

Westend Westend may refer to: * Westend (Trevilians, Virginia), an historic house in Virginia listed on the NRHP * Westend (Berlin), a locality of Berlin in Germany * Westend (Frankfurt am Main), a borough of Frankfurt am Main in Germany * Westend, Espoo, ...

'', '' Messe Nord/ICC'' and '' Westkreuz'' as well as the ''Westbahn'' lines S75 and S5 at the stations '' Messe Süd'', '' Heerstraße'', '' Olympiastadion (Süd)'' and '' Pichelsberg''. The Siemensstadt-Fürstenbrunn station is abandoned since 1980. U-Bahn connection to the inner city is provided by the U2 line with the stations '' Kaiserdamm'', '' Theodor-Heuss-Platz'', '' Neu-Westend'', '' Olympia-Stadion (Ost)'' and '' Ruhleben''. The A100 (''Berliner Stadtring'') motorway marks Westend's eastern border. The federal highways Bundesstraße 2 and Bundesstraße 5 together run through the locality along the streets ''Kaiserdamm'' and ''Heerstraße''. Near the S-Bahn station ''Messe Nord/ICC'' is Berlin's Central Bus station ''Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof'' (ZOB).

References

External links