Protecting Kyiv's Architectural Legacy: A City Rebuilding Its Foundations in the Shadow of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her recently completed front door. The restoration team had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “croissant”, a whimsical nod to its arched shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a peafowl,” she remarked, gazing at its twig-detailed ornamentation. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who celebrated with two impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance against a foreign power, she explained: “We are trying to live like everyday people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way. We have no fear of remaining in our country. The possibility to emigrate existed, relocating to a foreign land. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance represents our dedication to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s historic buildings seems unusual at a moment when missile strikes routinely fall the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each strike, workers cover blown-out windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Fight for Beauty

In the midst of war, a band of activists has been striving to save the city’s decaying mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was initially the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko said. The residence was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings nearby showcase analogous art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a gothic tower on one side and a projection on the other. One much-loved house in the area boasts two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Multiple Threats to History

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who knock down listed buildings, dishonest officials and a governing class apathetic or resistant to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate adds another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where money wins. We lack substantive political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s mayor was allied with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov further alleged that the plan for the capital comes straight out of a previous decade. The mayor denies these claims, stating they come from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once championed older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been lost. The protracted conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who curiously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see deterioration of our society and public institutions,” he remarked.

Demolition and Abandonment

One notorious location of loss is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had agreed to preserve its attractive brick facade. A day after the onset of major hostilities, heavy machinery demolished it. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new commercial complex, watched by a unfriendly 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 asserting they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A former political system also caused immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its central boulevard after the second world war so it could facilitate military vehicles.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most notable defenders of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was killed in 2022 while fighting in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his crucial preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not external attacks that destroyed them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique vine-clad house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new red door and authentic railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility 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 “incredibly atmospheric and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not appreciate the past? “Regrettably 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 a way off from such cultural awareness,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking lingered, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Therapy in Restoration

Some buildings are crumbling because of bureaucratic indifference. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; debris lay under a whimsical tower. “Frequently we don’t win,” she admitted. “This activity is a form of healing for us. We are striving to save all this past and beauty.”

In the face of war and development pressures, these activists continue their work, one facade at a time, stating that to rebuild a city’s identity, you must first save its stones.