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

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her recently completed front door. The restoration team had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a lighthearted tribute to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peacock,” she commented, gazing at its tree limb-inspired details. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s pre-World War I art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who marked the occasion with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an expression of defiance in the face of a foreign power, she elaborated: “Our aim is to live like everyday people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the most positive way. We’re not afraid of staying in our homeland. I could have left, starting anew to a foreign land. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes 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 optimal way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s built legacy could be considered strange at a period when missile strikes frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been dramatically stepped up. After each assault, workers board up broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Among the Bombs, a Campaign for Identity

Despite the violence, a group of activists has been striving to save the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was built in 1906 and was initially the home of a affluent fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are uncommon nowadays,” Danylenko said. The building was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity showcase analogous art nouveau elements, including a lack of symmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a projection on the other. One beloved house in the area features two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a demonic figure.

Several Challenges to Heritage

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who demolish protected buildings, dishonest officials and a political leadership unconcerned or resistant to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate adds another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We are missing 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 plan for the capital comes straight out of a bygone era. The mayor denies these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once protected older properties were now serving in the military or had been fallen. The ongoing conflict meant that everyone was facing financial problems, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see decline of our society and public institutions,” he remarked.

Demolition and Abandonment

One notorious location of loss is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who acquired the plot had pledged to preserve its charming brick facade. Shortly following the 2022 invasion, excavators demolished it. Recently, a crane excavated 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 blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while claiming they were doing “historical excavation”, 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 facilitate large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable advocates of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was lost his life in 2022 while engaged in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his important preservation work. There were initially 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s successful industrialists. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that eliminated them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now little will be left,” she emphasized. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful creeper-covered house built in 1910, which functions 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 vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

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

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not cherish the past? “Unfortunately they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to go to the west. But we are still not yet close from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking persisted, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Therapy in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of institutional abandonment. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons made their home among its smashed windows; debris lay under a fairytale tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she conceded. “Restoration is therapy for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of conflict and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one door at a time, stating that to preserve a city’s identity, you must first cherish its history.