Preserving the Capital's Architectural Legacy: An Urban Center Rebuilding Its Foundations Under the Threat of Conflict.

Lesia Danylenko beamed with pride as she displayed her newly installed front door. Volunteers had playfully nicknamed its elegant transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its curved shape. “Personally, I believe it’s more of a showy bird,” she remarked, admiring its tree limb-inspired features. The refurbishment initiative at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who celebrated with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of defiance against an invading force, she explained: “Our aim is to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way. We’re not afraid of living in Ukraine. I could have left, moving away to another European nation. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance shows our allegiance to our homeland.”

“We are trying to live like everyday people in spite of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the most positive way.”

Preserving Kyiv’s built legacy seems unusual at a moment when aerial assaults regularly target the capital, resulting in death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, bombing campaigns have been dramatically stepped up. After each assault, workers cover broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Among the Bombs, a Campaign for History

Amid the bombs, a band of activists has been striving to conserve 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 constructed in 1906 and was originally the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its facade is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are uncommon today,” Danylenko noted. The mansion was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings close by exhibit analogous art nouveau characteristics, including asymmetry – with a pointed turret on one side and a turret on the other. One popular house in the area displays two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a imp.

Dual Threats to Legacy

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who raze protected buildings, unethical officials and a political leadership apathetic or hostile to the city’s vast architectural history. The bitter winter climate adds another challenge.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We don’t have substantive 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 bulldoze important houses. Perov stated that the vision for the capital is reminiscent of a previous decade. The mayor rejects these claims, stating they come 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 lost. The lengthy conflict meant that everyone was facing monetary strain, 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 remarked.

Loss and Neglect

One notorious 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. A day after the full-scale invasion, excavators tore it down. Recently, a crane dug 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 destroyed old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A former political system also wrought immense damage on the capital, rebuilding its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could accommodate military vehicles.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most prominent champions of historic buildings, a tour guide and blogger, was lost his life in 2022 while fighting in the frontline. 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 built for the city’s successful industrialists. Only 80 of their original doors remain, she said.

“It wasn’t foreign rockets that destroyed them. It was us,” she admitted sadly. “The war could last another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now little will be left,” she added. Chudna recently helped to restore a characterful vine-clad house built in 1910, which serves as the headquarters of her cultural organization and doubles as a film set and museum. The property has a new crimson entrance and original-style railings; inside is a vintage sanitary facility and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left.”

The building’s tenant, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “very cool and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not cherish the past? “Unfortunately they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are attempting as a country to integrate with the west. But we are still some distance away from that standard,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking lingered, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Therapy in Restoration

Some buildings are collapsing because of official neglect. Chudna indicated a once-magical villa hidden behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons nested among its broken windows; debris lay under a fairytale tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she admitted. “Restoration is therapy for us. We are attempting to save all this history and aesthetic value.”

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