Preserving the Capital's Architectural Legacy: A City Rebuilding Itself Amidst the Onslaught of Conflict.
Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her freshly fitted front door. Local helpers had affectionately dubbed its elegant transom window the “crescent roll”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a peacock,” she commented, admiring its branch-like details. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who commemorated the work with a couple of lively pavement parties.
It was also an act of opposition towards an invading force, she clarified: “Our aim is to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way. We’re not afraid of remaining in Ukraine. I could have left, moving away to a foreign land. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance shows our dedication to our homeland.”
“We are trying to live like ordinary people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the most positive way.”
Safeguarding Kyiv’s architectural heritage could be considered paradoxical at a period when aerial assaults regularly target the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, bombing campaigns have been significantly intensified. After each strike, workers seal blown-out windows with plywood and try, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.
Amid the Conflict, a Campaign for Identity
Despite the violence, a group of activists has been attempting to preserve the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was initially the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its exterior is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.
“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko said. The building was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings close by showcase comparable art nouveau features, including a lack of symmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a turret on the other. One much-loved house in the area displays two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.
Several Challenges to Heritage
But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who knock down listed buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership apathetic or resistant to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another challenge.
“Kyiv is a city where money wins. We lack genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He alleged the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the vision for the capital is reminiscent of a bygone era. The mayor has refuted these claims, stating they come from political rivals.
Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once protected older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been fallen. The protracted conflict meant that everyone was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who inexplicably ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see deterioration of our society and public institutions,” he argued.
Demolition and Disregard
One egregious demolition site is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had committed to preserve its attractive brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the onset of major hostilities, excavators razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane excavated foundations for a new shopping and business centre, watched by a unfriendly security guard.
Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while asserting they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also wrought immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its central boulevard after the second world war so it could accommodate large-scale parades.
Carrying the Torch
One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was lost his life in 2022 while engaged in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his vital preservation work. There were originally 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s successful entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their authentic doors are still in existence, she said.
“It wasn’t aerial bombardments that got rid of them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now not a thing will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful vine-clad house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and authentic railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.
“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now not a thing will be left.”
The building’s occupant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not value the past? “Unfortunately they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to go to the west. But we are still a way off from such cultural awareness,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking persisted, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.
Hope in Restoration
Some buildings are crumbling because of official neglect. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Frequently we are unsuccessful,” she conceded. “Restoration is therapy for us. We are attempting to save all this heritage and aesthetic value.”
In the face of war and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one facade at a time, believing that to preserve a city’s identity, you must first protect its stones.
