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

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her freshly fitted front door. The restoration team had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its arched shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peacock,” she commented, appreciating its tree limb-inspired details. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who commemorated the work with two lively pavement parties.

It was also an act of defiance in the face of a foreign power, she explained: “Our aim is to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way. We have no fear of remaining in Ukraine. I could have left, moving away to another European nation. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way.”

Safeguarding Kyiv’s built legacy seems unusual at a moment when aerial assaults routinely fall the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, aerial raids have been significantly intensified. After each attack, workers cover broken windows with plywood and try, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Amid the Conflict, a Fight for Identity

In the midst of war, a group of activists has been attempting to save the city’s decaying mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected 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 today,” Danylenko stated. The residence was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit analogous art nouveau elements, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a turret on the other. One beloved house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Multiple Threats to Heritage

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who raze historically significant buildings, dishonest officials and a administrative body apathetic or resistant to the city’s vast architectural history. The severe winter climate adds 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 claimed the city’s mayor was allied with many of the developers who bulldoze important houses. Perov further alleged that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a bygone era. The mayor denies these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once defended older properties were now serving in the military or had been fallen. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of dubious new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and public institutions,” he argued.

Destruction and Disregard

One glaring location of loss is in the waterside Podil neighbourhood. The street was the site of classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had agreed to preserve its charming brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, diggers demolished it. Recently, a crane prepared foundations for a new retail and office development, monitored by a stern security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was faint chance for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A former political system also caused immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its primary street after the second world war so it could facilitate official processions.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most notable champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was fell in 2022 while serving in a eastern city. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were carrying on his crucial preservation work. There were at one time 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s prosperous entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their period doors remain, she said.

“It wasn’t aerial bombardments that eliminated them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “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 full of character ivy-draped 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 period-correct railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we don’t defend architecture now little will be left.”

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many residents not value the past? “Regrettably they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still a way off from that standard,” he said. Previous ways of thinking lingered, with people unwilling to take personal responsibility for their built surroundings, he added.

Therapy in Restoration

Some buildings are crumbling because of official neglect. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons made their home among its broken windows; rubbish lay under a whimsical tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she admitted. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this past and beauty.”

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