Horseshoe Estate (Hufeisensiedlung): the UNESCO garden city in Britz

Updated on October 5, 2026

The Hufeisensiedlung, or "Horseshoe Estate", is a 1920s housing development in Britz, in southern Neukölln, along Fritz-Reuter-Allee (12359 Berlin). Designed by the architects Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner for the GEHAG housing cooperative, it takes its name from a horseshoe-shaped apartment block wrapped around a pond. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008, together with five other Berlin modernist housing estates. You can walk around it freely, without a ticket: these are streets where people live, not a museum. The idea was to give working-class families bright homes with a garden or balcony, far from the dark courtyards of the 19th-century tenement blocks. Brightly coloured rendered façades, painted doors and small terraced houses are its most visible hallmarks.

Highlights

The horseshoe

The central block, curved around a glacial pond, is the image of the estate. The façades along the street that circles it alternate colours; the long, bright red façade along Fritz-Reuter-Allee, nicknamed the "Rote Front", is one of the most photographed motifs. Walk the whole way round to see how the balconies and gardens open towards the inside.

The terraced-house streets

Around the horseshoe, the neighbouring streets (Onkel-Tom-Straße, Fritz-Reuter-Allee, Parchimer Allee) line up flat-roofed houses with gardens, in a different shade from one street to the next. Look at the details: coloured doors, frames, shutters. People live here: stay on the pavement and respect their privacy.

The Infostation

Housed in the right wing of the horseshoe (Fritz-Reuter-Allee 44), it is a former shop run by a volunteer association. It has a bilingual permanent exhibition on the history of the estate, a reconstructed original kitchen, architecture guidebooks and a café with homemade cakes. It is open only on Friday and Sunday afternoons.

The UNESCO programme

The estate is one of the six "Berlin Modernism Housing Estates" listed in 2008. If the subject interests you, the Carl Legien estate (Prenzlauer Berg) and the Weiße Stadt (Reinickendorf) are reachable by public transport, but are further away.

Practical info

Tips

Allow one to one and a half hours for the loop around the horseshoe and the neighbouring streets. Go on a Friday or Sunday afternoon so you can step into the Infostation. Guided tours are offered on certain dates, notably during heritage days, with prior registration: check with the association before you come. The homes are private: do not photograph through windows. To continue in Neukölln, read our Neukölln guide; the Tempelhofer Feld is a few metro stops away.

How to get there

Fritz-Reuter-Allee 44, 12359 Berlin (Infostation). U7 metro to Parchimer Allee or Blaschkoallee, then a few minutes on foot. Our guide to getting around Berlin explains the tickets (zone AB).