Carstenn Castle

The building is located on Hindenburgdamm. The Lichterfelde Palace Park surrounding the palace borders the Benjamin Franklin Campus of Berlin's Charité to the north, the Teltow Canal to the east, and Krahmerstraße to the south.

The manor house in its current basic form was probably built in 1780 on an older predecessor building. Neither the architect nor its original use are known.

After several renovations, the large landowner Johann Anton Wilhelm von Carstenn finally moved into the manor house. In 1865, he had acquired, among other things, the Lichterfelde estate to establish a villa colony there. The manor house is still referred to as Carstenn Palace after him today.

After the end of World War II in 1945, the manor house was initially taken over by American soldiers with the aim of establishing a community center. In 1948, the building was rented for social purposes by the newly founded Nachbarschaftsheim Steglitz e. V. (Steglitz Community Center). By the early 1970s, the entire building was used by the association. In 1982, the institution was restructured, and a daycare center and an after-school care facility were added. After the association filed for insolvency in 1999, the Stadtteilzentrum Steglitz e. V. (Steglitz District Center) took over the building. Today, it offers, among other things, social counseling, cultural events, and courses on various topics. The building is a protected monument and is one of the cultural monuments in Lichterfelde.

The park belonging to the Lichterfelde Manor House extends from Hindenburgdamm to the Teltow Canal. Part of the former palace park now comprises a fenced nature reserve with an area of 2.6 hectares. It is a remnant of the original Bäketal valley, which has been under nature protection since March 3, 1923 (official decree on August 19, 1986), making it Berlin's oldest nature reserve. Among the inhabitants here are wood-dwelling insects and various bird species such as woodpeckers, nightingales, robins, and wrens.