Friedenau

Friedenau
Quarter of Berlin
Town hall
Friedenau
Location of Friedenau in Tempelhof-Schöneberg and Berlin
Coordinates: 52°28′20″N 13°19′47″E / 52.47222°N 13.32972°E / 52.47222; 13.32972Coordinates: 52°28′20″N 13°19′47″E / 52.47222°N 13.32972°E / 52.47222; 13.32972
Country	Germany
State	Berlin
City	Berlin
Borough	Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Founded	1871
Area
• Total	1.65 km2 (0.64 sq mi)
Population (2008-06-30)
• Total	26,736
• Density	16,000/km2 (42,000/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	(nr. 0702) 12159, 12161
Vehicle registration	B

Friedenau is a locality (Ortsteil) within the borough (Bezirk) of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. Relatively small by area, its population density is the highest one in the city.

Friedenau is part of the southwestern suburbs, right at the border with the inner city Schöneberg district, separated by the Berlin Ringbahn and the BAB 100 motorway (Stadtring). It borders the Wilmersdorf locality in the west and Steglitz in the south.

The streets and squares are laid out according to a geometric urban design with an almost complete assembly of Gründerzeit buildings, which survived the bombing of Berlin in World War II.

The characteristic feature of Friedenau is the Carstenn figure, named after urban developer Johann Anton Wilhelm von Carsten. This symmetrical figure consists of an avenue dividing a circular road, which is delimited by four town squares.

Some streets in Friedenau were renamed after rivers in Alsace-Lorraine to commemorate the annexation of this region into the German Empire.

The majority of buildings in Friedenau date to the early 20th century. Therefore, the architectural styles are almost uniform. 185 buildings are protected as cultural heritage sites.

Younger buildings do not necessarily match the surrounding cityscape, since the reconstruction efforts after World War II gave little consideration to the preservation of architectural uniformity.

In 1871 it was founded as an affluent commuter town on the estates of the former Deutsch-Wilmersdorf manor. The German name Friedenau, referring to Frieden (peace) and the suffix -au meaning floodplains (hence "floodplain of peace"), was proposed by Hedwig Hähnel, wife of the architect Hermann Hähnel, in memory of the 1871 Peace of Frankfurt, which ended the Franco-Prussian War. It was adopted by Mr. Hähnel, then the director of the Landerwerb- und Bauverein auf Actien (inc.), which developed the real estate in the area. When in 1874 the area constituted as an independent municipality within the Province of Brandenburg, the denotation had already been established and became the official municipal name.