Safeguarding Kyiv's Architectural Legacy: An Urban Center Reconstructing Itself Amidst the Onslaught of War.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her newly installed front door. The restoration team had given the moniker its elegant transom window the “croissant”, a lighthearted tribute to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a showy bird,” she commented, admiring its twig-detailed features. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who celebrated with several impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of opposition towards an invading force, she elaborated: “We are trying to live like everyday people regardless of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the best possible way. We’re not afraid of staying in our homeland. I could have left, starting anew to Italy. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance shows our commitment to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like normal people in spite of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the most positive way.”

Protecting Kyiv’s historic buildings could be considered unusual at a period when missile strikes frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, offensive operations have been dramatically stepped up. After each strike, workers cover blown-out windows with plywood and try, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Fight for History

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been working to preserve the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was built in 1906 and was originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its outer walls is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are uncommon nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The residence was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings close by display analogous art nouveau features, including a lack of symmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a small tower on the other. One much-loved house in the area boasts two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a imp.

Several Challenges to Heritage

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who knock down historically significant buildings, corrupt officials and a administrative body unconcerned or opposed to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate imposes another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We don’t have substantive political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s mayor was allied with many of the developers who bulldoze important houses. Perov added that the plan for the capital comes straight out of a previous decade. The mayor denies these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented 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 financial problems, he added, including judicial figures who curiously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this goes on the more we see degradation of our society and public institutions,” he contended.

Destruction and Neglect

One notorious example of destruction is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had committed to preserve its charming brick facade. Shortly following the onset of major hostilities, diggers tore it down. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new shopping and business centre, observed by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining coloured 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, redesigning its central boulevard after the second world war so it could allow for large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most renowned advocates of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was lost his life in 2022 while fighting in a contested area. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his crucial preservation work. There were originally 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s wealthy entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors survived, she said.

“It wasn’t external attacks that got rid of them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character creeper-covered 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 red door and original-style railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s occupant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “incredibly atmospheric and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not value the past? “Sadly they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to move towards the west. But we are still a way off from that standard,” he said. Previous ways of thinking remained, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Hope in Preservation

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons nested among its shattered windows; rubbish lay under a storybook tower. “Often we are unsuccessful,” she conceded. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this past and splendour.”

In the face of war and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one facade at a time, arguing that to preserve a city’s identity, you must first save its walls.