Safeguarding 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. Volunteers had given the moniker its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a peafowl,” she commented, gazing at its tree limb-inspired features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s pre-World War I art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who celebrated with two neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an expression of resistance towards an invading force, she explained: “Our aim is to live like everyday people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way. Fear does not drive us of remaining in Ukraine. I could have left, relocating to a foreign land. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“We strive to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s historic buildings could be considered paradoxical at a moment when drone attacks routinely fall the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been dramatically stepped up. After each attack, workers board up shattered windows with plywood and try, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Within the Explosions, a Campaign for History

In the midst of war, a collective of activists has been striving to save the city’s decaying mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was originally the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its outer walls is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce in the present day,” Danylenko noted. The mansion was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings nearby exhibit comparable art nouveau characteristics, including an irregular shape – with a medieval spire on one side and a turret 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.

Dual Challenges to Heritage

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who demolish historically significant buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class apathetic or opposed to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We don’t have real 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 added that the plan for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once championed older properties were now serving in the military or had been lost. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this goes on the more we see deterioration of our society and governing institutions,” he remarked.

Demolition and Disregard

One notorious location of loss is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had pledged to preserve its attractive brick facade. A day after the full-scale invasion, heavy machinery razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new retail and office development, monitored by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A previous regime also wrought immense damage on the capital, redesigning its central boulevard after the second world war so it could accommodate official processions.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most prominent defenders of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his important preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s successful industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that got rid of them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique ivy-draped house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new red door and original-style railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could go on for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s tenant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not cherish the past? “Regrettably they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still some distance away from that standard,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking remained, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Therapy in Action

Some buildings are falling apart because of official neglect. Chudna showed a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons made their home among its broken windows; refuse lay under a fairytale tower. “Frequently we don’t win,” she conceded. “This activity is therapy for us. We are trying to save all this history and aesthetic value.”

In the face of conflict and commercial interests, these citizens continue their work, one building at a time, arguing that to rebuild a city’s soul, you must first protect its stones.