Steglitz

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Location of Steglitz within Berlin

The "Steglitzer Kreisel", the building housing the administrative office of Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough.

Steglitz is a neighborhood as well as a former borough in Berlin, the capital of Germany. As part of an administrative reform, Steglitz has been merged with its neighbor Zehlendorf, to form the new borough Steglitz-Zehlendorf. Steglitz is comprised of the neighborhoods of Lichterfelde, Lankwitz, and Südende, as well as Steglitz proper, for which the borough was named.

Steglitz witnessed the construction of the first paved Prussian country road, in 1792. The borough profited largely from its location on the Imperial Highway No. 1, famous "Reichsstraße 1", today "Bundesstraße", which follows a trading route that dates back to the Middle Ages. The old Reichsstraße used to stretch from the far West of Germany through Aachen and Cologne to Berlin, then went on eastward to end some two hundred miles northeast of Königsberg in East Prussia. The neighborhood also received an economic boost with the construction of a railroad line in 1838, which ran between Berlin and Potsdam. The Steglitz neighborhood was included in the southern line of Berlin's rail and transit systems from around 1850 (nowadays S-Bahn line 1 and 2 and U-Bahn line 9).

The Steglitz area saw considerable change in the second half of the 19th century when luxurious residential areas were developed in the then still independent villages of Lichterfelde and Dahlem. Lichterfelde West and East were developed as so called "Villen Kolonien", settlements entirely made up of mansion houses or villas. Lichterfelde became part of Steglitz around 1900, and Dahlem became part of Zehlendorf. Both were incorporated into the city of Greater Berlin in 1920 and are today united in the new borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf. Thanks to these and other expensive residential developments, Steglitz-Zehlendorf is today the most wealthy of the twelve Berlin boroughs.

The highest point in Steglitz is a hill called Fichtenberg, 68 m (223 ft) high.

In Steglitz is a big university hospital, the Benjamin Franklin Klinikum, which was built from 1958-1964 on a large campus between Hindenburgdamm and Klingsorstraße. The hospital was built by American and German architects, so the architecture is in some parts typically American.

Steglitz is twinned with Qiryat Bialik in Israel.

[edit] History

1375 - Steglitz is mentioned historically for the first time, in the annals of Karl IV.
1860 - The two Villenkolonien around Lichterfelde are founded by the entrepreneur Johann Von Carstenn.
1872 or 1873 - The settlement of Südende is founded.
1878 - the Prussian Hauptkadettenanstalt / Imperial Cadett School moves to new buildings in Lichterfelde West.
1881 The world's first electrical tram connects the Hauptkadettenanstalt to the Lichterfelde Ost train station.
from 1885 - Otto Lilienthal experiments in Lichterfelde with flight apparatus "heavier than air".
1897 to 1909 - The new Berlin Botanical Garden is constructed in Steglitz.
1901 - The Wandervogel youth group is founded in the basement of the Steglitz government house.
1920 - Incorporation into Berlin proper.

[edit] Points of interest

The Bierpinsel.

Berlin Botanical Garden and Museum

Gutshaus Steglitz, an architecturally interesting building which houses a music theater, the Schlossparktheater (English: Castle Park Theater). [Gutshaus:[1]]
Schloßstrasse (English: Castle Street), a large shopping area
Steglitz City Hall [Steglitz Rathaus:[2]]
Villenkolonie Lichterfelde West, historical district of 19th century mansion houses and cobbled streets
Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing (German: Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung)
Benjamin Franklin Campus of the Free University of Berlin

[Rosenkranz Basilica:[3],[4]]