Living on Kurfürstendamm

Kurfürstendamm was laid out from 1886 onwards as a grand boulevard modelled on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, and from the start it was intended as a residential street, not just a shopping street. That is still the case today. On the upper floors of the buildings facing the street and in the quiet side wings behind them are flats that rank among the most prestigious in Berlin. BBI Immobilien itself is based at Kurfürstendamm 178-179.

The neighbourhoods in detail

• Eastern section to Uhlandstraße: The most commercial part, from the Memorial Church (Gedächtniskirche) to Uhlandstraße. Here there are mainly commercial buildings. People live on the upper floors, and flats like these rarely come onto the market.
• Middle section to Adenauerplatz: The balanced part: shops on the ground floor, mainly flats above, mostly period buildings with good floor plans. The side streets are quiet, even though the address is Kurfürstendamm.
• Western section to Rathenauplatz: The quietest part of the boulevard, with far fewer people about. Many owners live in their own flats here.
• Fasanenstraße and Knesebeckstraße: The side streets close to the Ku'damm, but without its traffic. If you want the location but not the main road, this is usually exactly where you look.
• Rear buildings and garden houses: Behind the buildings facing the street are green courtyards with side wings and garden houses. Much quieter than the street side, with a noticeable price difference at the same address.

Transport and connections

The U1 runs under the boulevard, the U9 crosses it, and the U7 stops at Adenauerplatz. The stations Uhlandstraße, Kurfürstendamm and Adenauerplatz are each just a few minutes apart. Zoologischer Garten station is a long-distance rail stop and a hub for numerous bus routes. The boulevard itself is a main traffic artery. That is the most important question when choosing a flat.

Green space and open areas

The boulevard is tree-lined throughout, but real green spaces lie away from it: the Tiergarten to the east, Lietzenseepark to the north-west and Preußenpark to the south. For many residents, the green courtyards of the period blocks are the actual open space.

Buildings and construction periods

The buildings are a mix. There are surviving Gründerzeit buildings, i.e. from the decades around 1900, plus the reconstruction of the 1950s and a few newer buildings. In the period buildings the ceilings are around three and a half metres high, and the rooms run one after another in a line. The post-war buildings have lower rooms, but often a lift, a balcony and simpler floor plans.

Who the location suits

Whether a flat on Kurfürstendamm is good to live in comes down to three things: floor, orientation and windows. A flat on the fifth floor facing the courtyard is something completely different in everyday life from one on the first floor facing the street. Both have the same address and end up in the same statistics. If you buy here, view the flat at different times of day.