As one of the first villa colonies in Berlin, Lichterfelde was established in the 1860s, then far outside the city gates. Entrepreneur Johann Anton Wilhelm von Carstenn wanted to build on the success of the Marienthal villa colony near Hamburg and enable wealthy Berliners to escape the sprawling city of Berlin with a pretty villa in the countryside and neighbors of the same social standing. The villa colony has retained its charm, with quiet, tree-lined cobblestone streets and stately houses in castle style and brick Gothic, Art Nouveau, and Neo-Renaissance. The tour takes you to the most beautiful examples on both sides of Drakestraße.