Protecting Kyiv's Architectural Legacy: A City Reconstructing Itself Amidst the Onslaught of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. Local helpers had playfully nicknamed its graceful transom window the “croissant”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a showy bird,” she commented, appreciating its tree limb-inspired ornamentation. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who marked the occasion with two impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an act of opposition against a neighboring state, she explained: “We strive to live like ordinary people in spite of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way. Fear does not drive us of living in our homeland. I had the option to depart, starting anew to another European nation. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance represents our commitment to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like everyday people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s historic buildings could be considered paradoxical at a period when drone attacks frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, aerial raids have been notably increased. After each assault, workers board up shattered windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Amid the Bombs, a Fight for History

Amid the bombs, a band of activists has been striving to preserve the city’s decaying mansions, built in a playful 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 outer walls is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko stated. The mansion was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings close by showcase comparable art nouveau elements, including an irregular shape – with a pointed turret on one side and a turret on the other. One beloved house in the area boasts two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Multiple Threats to Heritage

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who demolish protected buildings, dishonest officials and a administrative body indifferent or resistant to the city’s vast architectural history. The harsh winter climate imposes another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We are missing real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s leadership was closely associated with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov further alleged that the vision 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 civically minded activists who once championed older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been lost. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who inexplicably ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and public institutions,” he argued.

Demolition and Neglect

One egregious demolition site is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had agreed to preserve its charming brick facade. A day after the onset of major hostilities, diggers razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched by a stern security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while claiming they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A 20th-century empire also inflicted immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could accommodate official processions.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable defenders of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was lost his life in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his important preservation work. There were initially 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s wealthy entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could last another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now little will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a unique ivy-draped house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and original-style railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could go on for 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 residents not value the past? “Sadly they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to move towards the west. But we are still a way off from that standard,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking remained, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their architectural setting, he added.

Therapy in Action

Some buildings are crumbling because of bureaucratic indifference. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons nested among its smashed windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she conceded. “Restoration is a coping mechanism for us. We are striving to save all this past and beauty.”

In the face of war and neglect, these volunteers continue their work, one facade at a time, stating that to save a city’s soul, you must first save its walls.