Protecting Kyiv's Architectural Legacy: An Urban Center Rebuilding Itself Amidst the Onslaught of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her freshly fitted front door. The restoration team had playfully nicknamed its elegant transom window the “pastry”, a playful reference to its arched shape. “I think it’s more of a showy bird,” she remarked, admiring its tree limb-inspired features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who celebrated with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of opposition against a foreign power, she clarified: “We are trying to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way. We have no fear of remaining in our country. The possibility to emigrate existed, relocating to a foreign land. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s historic buildings could be considered unusual at a period when aerial assaults frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, bombing campaigns have been notably increased. After each assault, workers board up shattered windows with plywood and try, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Battle for History

In the midst of war, a band of activists has been striving to conserve the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its exterior is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The mansion was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity display analogous art nouveau features, including a lack of symmetry – with a gothic tower on one side and a small tower on the other. One beloved house in the area displays two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Dual Dangers to History

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who demolish protected buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership apathetic or resistant to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate presents another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We don’t have genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was closely associated with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov added that the concept for the capital is reminiscent of a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once championed older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been fallen. The lengthy conflict meant that the entire society was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this goes on the more we see decline of our society and state bodies,” he contended.

Destruction and Disregard

One glaring demolition site is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. A day after the 2022 invasion, heavy machinery razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched by a surly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while claiming they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A previous regime also inflicted immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could facilitate official processions.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while serving in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his vital preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It wasn’t aerial bombardments that eliminated them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could last another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character creeper-covered house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and period-correct railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left.”

The building’s tenant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not appreciate the past? “Sadly they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to move towards the west. But we are still some distance away from civilization,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking lingered, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Restoration

Some buildings are falling apart because of official neglect. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons made their home among its broken windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Often we don’t win,” she acknowledged. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this history and beauty.”

In the face of war and neglect, these activists continue their work, one door at a time, believing that to rebuild a city’s heart, you must first cherish its stones.