Literaturhaus Fasanenstraße, Literary event venue in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany.
Literaturhaus Fasanenstraße occupies a late-classical brick villa built in 1889/1890 by architects Albrecht Becker and Emil Schlüter for Richard and Luise Hildebrandt. The house, part of a three-villa ensemble with a sculpture garden near Kurfürstendamm, has a winter garden, several halls, a bookstore and the Café Wintergarten. Since 1986 it has served as Berlin's public literature house.
The villa was built in 1889/1890 as a late-classicist brick building for Richard and Luise Hildebrandt, designed by Albrecht Becker and Emil Schlüter. In the late 1920s it passed to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which housed foreign students there; it later served as a disco and brothel, and demolition for a motorway feeder road was prevented by a citizens' initiative. The Land Berlin acquired and restored it, and it opened as Germany's first Literaturhaus in June 1986 under founding director Herbert Wiesner.
The house gave its name to a model: founded in June 1986 as Germany's first Literaturhaus, it inspired similar institutions in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich. Since 2018 Janika Gelinek and Sonja Longolius have directed it jointly, and the Junge Literaturhaus programme for children and young people was launched the same year. Around 140 of its own events are held annually, alongside many guest events.
The villa at Fasanenstraße 23 is closed for renovation until January 2026; a lift and new sanitary facilities are being installed for step-free access. During this time the office is in Alt-Moabit and the programme, under the motto "Li-Be für die Stadt", moves to venues across Berlin, including the Hamburger Bahnhof, the Gemäldegalerie, the Prinzenbad, SO36 and Schloss Köpenick. Check the venue of each event before setting out.
The venue annually awards the Walter-Serner Prize, which recognizes emerging writers and supports their new voices in the German-language literary scene. This award has helped make the venue known beyond Berlin's borders.
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