Preserving the Capital's Architectural Legacy: A City Rebuilding Itself Under the Threat of War.

Lesia Danylenko proudly presented her recently completed front door. Volunteers 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 remarked, admiring its twig-detailed features. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who marked the occasion with several lively pavement parties.

It was also an act of opposition against a foreign power, she clarified: “We are trying to live like normal people in spite of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way. We have no fear of remaining in Ukraine. I could have left, moving away to a foreign land. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance represents our dedication to our homeland.”

“We strive to live like ordinary people in spite of the war. It’s about organizing our life in the best possible way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s built legacy seems paradoxical at a period when drone attacks frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been notably increased. After each attack, workers cover broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to secure residential buildings.

Among the Bombs, a Fight for Identity

In the midst of war, a band of activists has been attempting to preserve the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a playful style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was first the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its facade is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and fine camomile flowers.

“They are symbols of Kyiv. These properties are increasingly scarce today,” Danylenko noted. The mansion was designed by a designer of Austrian-German origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity display analogous art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a small tower on the other. One beloved house in the area features two sullen white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Threats to Legacy

But armed conflict is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who knock down listed buildings, corrupt officials and a administrative body indifferent or hostile to the city’s rich architectural history. The severe winter climate adds another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We are missing real political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He claimed the city’s leadership was allied with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the vision for the capital is reminiscent of a different time. The mayor has refuted these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once defended older properties were now engaged in combat or had been fallen. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including those in the legal system who mysteriously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this continues the more we see degradation of our society and public institutions,” he remarked.

Destruction and Abandonment

One notorious example of destruction is in the historic Podil neighbourhood. The street was lined with classical 19th-century houses. A developer who obtained the plot had committed to preserve its picturesque brick facade. A day after the full-scale invasion, heavy machinery razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new retail and office development, watched 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 asserting they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A 20th-century empire also inflicted immense damage on the capital, redesigning its central boulevard after the second world war so it could accommodate military vehicles.

Upholding the Legacy

One of Kyiv’s most renowned 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 carrying on his important preservation work. There were initially 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s prosperous business magnates. Only 80 of their original doors remain, she said.

“It wasn’t external attacks that eliminated them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful ivy-draped house built in 1910, which functions as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves 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 go on 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 “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not cherish the past? “Regrettably they lack education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting 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 unwilling to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Preservation

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons made their home among its shattered windows; refuse lay under a fairytale tower. “Often we lose the battle,” she admitted. “Preservation work is therapy for us. We are attempting to save all this history and splendour.”

In the face of conflict and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one building at a time, stating that to rebuild a city’s soul, you must first save its stones.