diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/Makefile.in b/icu4c/source/common/Makefile.in
index 6dd4c4d5047..30b4c6c89d6 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/Makefile.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/Makefile.in
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ endif
 LIBS = $(LIBICUDT) $(DEFAULT_LIBS)
 
 OBJECTS = errorcode.o putil.o umath.o utypes.o uinvchar.o umutex.o ucln_cmn.o \
-uinit.o uobject.o cmemory.o charstr.o \
+uinit.o uobject.o cmemory.o charstr.o cstr.o \
 udata.o ucmndata.o udatamem.o umapfile.o udataswp.o ucol_swp.o utrace.o \
 uhash.o uhash_us.o uenum.o ustrenum.o uvector.o ustack.o uvectr32.o uvectr64.o \
 ucnv.o ucnv_bld.o ucnv_cnv.o ucnv_io.o ucnv_cb.o ucnv_err.o ucnvlat1.o \
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj b/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj
index 24bf4de5b27..0517cae1767 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj
@@ -439,6 +439,7 @@
     <ClCompile Include="chariter.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="charstr.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="cstring.c" />
+    <ClCompile Include="cstr.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="cwchar.c" />
     <ClCompile Include="messagepattern.cpp" />
     <ClCompile Include="schriter.cpp" />
@@ -1449,6 +1450,7 @@
     </CustomBuild>
     <ClInclude Include="charstr.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="cstring.h" />
+    <ClInclude Include="cstr.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="cwchar.h" />
     <CustomBuild Include="unicode\messagepattern.h">
       <Command Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">copy "%(FullPath)" ..\..\include\unicode
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj.filters b/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj.filters
index 01b0625e64e..2d4810b9000 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj.filters
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/common.vcxproj.filters
@@ -463,6 +463,9 @@
     <ClCompile Include="cstring.c">
       <Filter>strings</Filter>
     </ClCompile>
+    <ClCompile Include="cstr.cpp">
+      <Filter>strings</Filter>
+    </ClCompile>
     <ClCompile Include="cwchar.c">
       <Filter>strings</Filter>
     </ClCompile>
@@ -829,6 +832,9 @@
     <ClInclude Include="cstring.h">
       <Filter>strings</Filter>
     </ClInclude>
+    <ClInclude Include="cstr.h">
+      <Filter>strings</Filter>
+    </ClInclude>
     <ClInclude Include="cwchar.h">
       <Filter>strings</Filter>
     </ClInclude>
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/cstr.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/cstr.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c34b212dc27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/cstr.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/*
+*******************************************************************************
+*   Copyright (C) 2015, International Business Machines
+*   Corporation and others.  All Rights Reserved.
+*******************************************************************************
+*   file name:  charstr.cpp
+*/
+#include "unicode/utypes.h"
+#include "unicode/unistr.h"
+
+#include "charstr.h"
+#include "cstr.h"
+
+U_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
+
+CStr::CStr(const UnicodeString &in) {
+    UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+    int32_t length = in.extract(0, in.length(), NULL, (uint32_t)0);
+    int32_t resultCapacity = 0;
+    char *buf = s.getAppendBuffer(length, length, resultCapacity, status);
+    if (U_SUCCESS(status)) {
+        in.extract(0, in.length(), buf, resultCapacity);
+        s.append(buf, length, status);
+    }
+}
+
+CStr::~CStr() {
+}
+
+const char * CStr::operator ()() const {
+    return s.data();
+}
+
+U_NAMESPACE_END
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/cstr.h b/icu4c/source/common/cstr.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7c64aee8917
--- /dev/null
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/cstr.h
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+******************************************************************************
+*
+*   Copyright (C) 2015, International Business Machines
+*   Corporation and others.  All Rights Reserved.
+*
+******************************************************************************
+*
+* File: cstr.h
+*/
+
+#ifndef CSTR_H
+#define CSTR_H
+
+#include "unicode/unistr.h"
+#include "unicode/uobject.h"
+#include "unicode/utypes.h"
+
+#include "charstr.h"
+
+/**
+ * ICU-internal class CStr, a small helper class to facilitate passing UnicodStrings
+ * to functions needing (const char *) strings, such as printf().
+ *
+ * It is intended primarily for use in debugging or in tests. Uses platform 
+ * default code page conversion, which will do the best job possible,
+ * but may be lossy, depending on the platform.
+ *
+ * Example Usage:
+ *   UnicodeString s = whatever;
+ *   printf("%s", CStr(s)());
+ *
+ *   The explicit call to the CStr() constructor creates a temporary object.
+ *   Operator () on the temporary object returns a (const char *) pointer.
+ *   The lifetime of the (const char *) data is that of the temporary object,
+ *   which works well when passing it as a parameter to another function, such as printf.
+ */
+
+U_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
+
+class U_COMMON_API CStr : public UMemory {
+  public:
+    CStr(const UnicodeString &in);
+    ~CStr();
+    const char * operator ()() const;
+
+  private:
+    CharString s;
+    CStr(const CStr &other);               //  Forbid copying of this class.
+    CStr &operator =(const CStr &other);   //  Forbid assignment.
+};
+
+U_NAMESPACE_END
+
+#endif
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/depstest/dependencies.txt b/icu4c/source/test/depstest/dependencies.txt
index d77c82851d8..1f554a43903 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/depstest/dependencies.txt
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/depstest/dependencies.txt
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ library: common
     idna2003 stringprep
     stringenumeration
     unistr_props unistr_case unistr_case_locale unistr_titlecase_brkiter unistr_cnv
+    cstr
     uniset_core uniset_props uniset_closure usetiter uset uset_props
     uiter
     ucasemap ucasemap_titlecase_brkiter script_runs
@@ -350,6 +351,11 @@ group: unistr_cnv
   deps
     conversion
 
+group: cstr
+    cstr.o
+  deps
+    unistr_cnv
+
 group: uscript
     uscript.o  # uscript_getCode() accepts a locale ID and loads its script code data
   deps
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.cpp
index 5075fa5fc8e..0ec61eba8fd 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "unicode/unistr.h"
 #include "unicode/ustring.h"
 #include "charstr.h"
+#include "cstr.h"
 #include "intltest.h"
 #include "strtest.h"
 
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ void StringTest::runIndexedTest(int32_t index, UBool exec, const char *&name, ch
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCheckedArrayByteSink);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestStringByteSink);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCharString);
+    TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCStr);
     TESTCASE_AUTO_END;
 }
 
@@ -532,3 +534,12 @@ StringTest::TestCharString() {
         errln("%s:%d expected length() = 0, got %d", __FILE__, __LINE__, chStr.length());
     }
 }
+
+void
+StringTest::TestCStr() {
+    const char *cs = "This is a test string.";
+    UnicodeString us(cs);
+    if (0 != strcmp(CStr(us)(), cs)) {
+        errln("%s:%d CStr(s)() failed. Expected \"%s\", got \"%s\"", __FILE__, __LINE__, cs, CStr(us)());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.h b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.h
index c90d1afa138..9589a728e05 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/strtest.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /********************************************************************
  * COPYRIGHT: 
- * Copyright (c) 1997-2011, International Business Machines Corporation and
+ * Copyright (c) 1997-2015, International Business Machines Corporation and
  * others. All Rights Reserved.
  ********************************************************************/
 /*   file name:  strtest.h
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ private:
     void TestStringByteSink();
     void TestSTLCompatibility();
     void TestCharString();
+    void TestCStr();
 };
 
 #endif