If you’re seeking a central Mitte location for that next photo shoot, fashion event or design conference, roll down to Invalidenstraße and take a look at Villa Elisabeth. The century old villa, built as the parish office of the neighboring St. Elisabeth Church, offers several hundred square meters of exquisite interiors extending over two floors, and accommodates up to five hundred guests. Once home to bible readings, baptisms and confirmations, the villa and church are still managed by the parish, which now makes both available for use by Berlin’s creative community.

The adjacent St. Elisabeth Church, completed in 1835, is a neoclassical design by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, built under contract to Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who believed having a neighborhood house of worship would raise the spiritual level of local residents. Completely destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945 and left a ruin until Berlin’s reunification, the church was rebuilt to Schinkel’s plans in 1999, and is now a favorite of Berlin’s filmmakers, dance troops and theater companies. Perhaps Friedrich Wilhelm wasn’t so wrong after all.