Protecting the Capital's Architectural Legacy: A City Rebuilding Its Foundations Amidst the Onslaught of War.

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her freshly fitted front door. The restoration team had affectionately dubbed its ornate transom window the “crescent roll”, a lighthearted tribute to its bowed shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a showy bird,” she commented, admiring its twig-detailed ornamentation. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who marked the occasion with a couple of impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of opposition in the face of an invading force, she explained: “We are trying to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way. We have no fear of remaining in our country. I could have left, starting anew to a foreign land. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“Our aim is to live like ordinary people despite the war. It’s about organizing our life in the optimal way.”

Safeguarding Kyiv’s architectural heritage could be considered strange at a moment when missile strikes frequently hit the capital, causing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, aerial raids have been significantly intensified. After each strike, workers cover shattered windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Within the Bombs, a Battle for Identity

Despite the violence, a band of activists has been working to save the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was originally the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its facade is adorned with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko noted. The residence was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit analogous art nouveau features, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a projection on the other. One popular house in the area features two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Dual Challenges to History

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who demolish listed buildings, unethical officials and a administrative body apathetic or resistant to the city’s rich architectural history. The bitter winter climate adds another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We are missing genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was closely associated with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the concept for the capital is reminiscent of a bygone era. The mayor denies these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once protected older properties were now engaged in combat or had been lost. The lengthy conflict meant that everyone was facing monetary strain, he added, including those in the legal system who curiously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and governing institutions,” he contended.

Demolition and Neglect

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

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was little optimism for the remaining blue-green houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while stating they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A previous regime also inflicted immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its central boulevard after the second world war so it could allow for large-scale parades.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most notable defenders of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was fell in 2022 while serving in a contested area. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were persevering in his vital preservation work. There were originally 3,500 stone mansions in Kyiv, many constructed for the city’s successful business magnates. Only 80 of their period doors survived, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that eliminated them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful vine-clad house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and authentic railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

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

The building’s tenant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many locals not value the past? “Unfortunately they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are striving as a country to go to the west. But we are still some distance away from civilization,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking lingered, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Therapy in Restoration

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons made their home among its broken windows; refuse lay under a fairytale tower. “Many times we are unsuccessful,” she acknowledged. “Preservation work is a form of healing for us. We are attempting to save all this heritage and beauty.”

In the face of conflict and development pressures, these activists continue their work, one door at a time, believing that to preserve a city’s heart, you must first cherish its stones.