Protecting Kyiv's Architectural Legacy: An Urban Center Reconstructing Its Foundations in the Shadow of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her freshly fitted front door. Volunteers had playfully nicknamed its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a lighthearted tribute to its arched shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a peacock,” she stated, gazing at its branch-like features. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who commemorated the work with two neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an act of resistance towards a neighboring state, she elaborated: “We are trying to live like normal people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way. Fear does not drive us of remaining in Ukraine. I had the option to depart, relocating to a foreign land. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance shows our dedication to our homeland.”

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

Preserving Kyiv’s architectural heritage may appear paradoxical at a time when aerial assaults regularly target the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, offensive operations have been significantly intensified. After each assault, workers seal shattered windows with plywood and endeavor, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Amid the Conflict, a Campaign for History

Despite the violence, a collective of activists has been attempting to conserve the city’s decaying mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko noted. The building was designed by an architect of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit comparable art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a gothic tower 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.

Dual Challenges to Legacy

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who demolish historically significant buildings, unethical officials and a administrative body indifferent or hostile to the city’s profound architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We don’t have substantive political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He claimed the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the plan for the capital harks back to a bygone era. The mayor rejects these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once championed older properties were now engaged in combat or had been lost. The ongoing conflict meant that everyone was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who curiously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this goes on the more we see decline of our society and governing institutions,” he argued.

Loss and Disregard

One glaring example of destruction is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had agreed to preserve its charming brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the onset of major hostilities, diggers demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new commercial complex, observed by a unfriendly security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining turquoise-painted houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed 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 large-scale parades.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most prominent advocates of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was killed in 2022 while serving in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his important preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s wealthy industrialists. Only 80 of their authentic doors are still in existence, she said.

“It wasn’t foreign rockets that eliminated them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “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 full of character ivy-draped house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and period-correct railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now not a thing will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not cherish the past? “Sadly they are without education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to move towards the west. But we are still not yet close from civilization,” he said. Previous ways of thinking remained, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Hope in Action

Some buildings are collapsing because of official neglect. Chudna showed a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons roosted among its broken windows; debris lay under a storybook tower. “Frequently we are unsuccessful,” she acknowledged. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this history and splendour.”

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