Safeguarding Kyiv's Architectural Legacy: A City Reconstructing Its Foundations in the Shadow of War.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her freshly fitted front door. Volunteers had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “pastry”, a playful reference to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a peacock,” she commented, gazing at its twig-detailed features. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who marked the occasion with two impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an expression of opposition towards a foreign power, she elaborated: “We are trying to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way. Fear does not drive us of staying in our homeland. I had the option to depart, starting anew to a foreign land. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance shows our commitment to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s historic buildings could be considered strange at a time when aerial assaults regularly target the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, aerial raids have been significantly intensified. After each attack, workers seal broken windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Amid the Explosions, a Battle for Identity

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

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce in the present day,” Danylenko noted. The building was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby display similar art nouveau features, including asymmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a turret on the other. One beloved house in the area displays two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Threats to Heritage

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who demolish protected buildings, corrupt officials and a political leadership unconcerned or hostile to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate imposes another burden.

“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 mayor was friends with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov further alleged that the concept for the capital harks back to a bygone era. The mayor rejects these claims, stating they come from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once protected older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been lost. The ongoing conflict meant that the entire society was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who inexplicably ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see deterioration of our society and state bodies,” he contended.

Demolition and Abandonment

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 agreed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. Shortly following the full-scale invasion, diggers razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new retail and office development, observed by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A 20th-century empire also wrought immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its primary street after the second world war so it could allow for large-scale parades.

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 continuing his crucial preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s successful entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that destroyed them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now little will be left,” she emphasized. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character vine-clad house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and operates as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and period-correct railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “incredibly atmospheric and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not appreciate the past? “Unfortunately they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still some distance away from that standard,” he said. Previous ways of thinking persisted, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Hope in Restoration

Some buildings are crumbling because of bureaucratic indifference. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons made their home among its shattered windows; refuse lay under a fairytale tower. “Often we lose the battle,” she acknowledged. “This activity is a form of healing for us. We are striving to save all this history and beauty.”

In the face of destruction and commercial interests, these activists continue their work, one building at a time, believing that to rebuild a city’s identity, you must first protect its stones.