Preserving 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. Volunteers had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “crescent roll”, a whimsical nod to its bowed shape. “In my opinion it’s more of a peacock,” she remarked, admiring its branch-like features. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was supported by residents, who commemorated the work with a couple of lively pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance against an invading force, she explained: “We strive to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way. Fear does not drive us of staying in our homeland. I had the option to depart, moving away to a foreign land. Conversely, I’m here. The new entrance shows our allegiance to our homeland.”

“Our aim is 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 may appear strange at a moment when missile strikes regularly target the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the onset of the current year, aerial raids have been notably increased. After each strike, workers seal broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Among the Explosions, a Fight for Beauty

Amid the bombs, a group of activists has been attempting to conserve the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was constructed in 1906 and was initially the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its facade is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and delicate camomile flowers.

“These structures stand as symbols of Kyiv. These properties are uncommon nowadays,” Danylenko stated. The building was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit comparable art nouveau characteristics, including asymmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a projection on the other. One popular house in the area features two unhappy white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Several Challenges to Heritage

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face profit-driven developers who raze historically significant buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class indifferent or opposed to the city’s rich architectural history. The bitter winter climate imposes another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where capital prevails. We don’t have real 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 destroy important houses. Perov added that the plan for the capital harks back to a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, attributing them from political rivals.

Perov said many of the civically minded activists who once protected older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been killed. The ongoing conflict meant that all citizens was facing monetary strain, he added, including judicial figures who inexplicably ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see degradation of our society and public institutions,” he argued.

Demolition and Abandonment

One notorious example of destruction is in the riverside Podil neighbourhood. The street was home to classical 19th-century houses. A developer who purchased the plot had committed to preserve its charming brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the 2022 invasion, heavy machinery tore it down. Recently, a crane dug foundations for a new commercial complex, monitored by a stern security guard.

Anatolii Pohorily, a heritage supporter, said there was not much hope for the remaining coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers levelled old properties while asserting they were doing “historical excavation”, he said. A previous regime also caused immense damage on the capital, reconstructing its central boulevard after the second world war so it could facilitate military vehicles.

Carrying the Torch

One of Kyiv’s most prominent advocates of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was killed 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 initially 3,500 brick-built mansions in Kyiv, many built for the city’s wealthy entrepreneurs. Only 80 of their authentic doors are still in existence, she said.

“It was not foreign rockets that got rid of them. It was us,” she lamented. “The war could last another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now nothing will be left,” she emphasized. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character creeper-covered 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 vermilion portal and original-style railings; inside is a historic washroom and antique mirrors.

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

The building’s resident, artist Yurii Pikul, described his home as “quite special and a little bit cold”. Why do many citizens not cherish the past? “Sadly they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to move towards the west. But we are still not yet close from such cultural awareness,” he said. Outdated ways of thinking persisted, with people hesitant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of bureaucratic indifference. Chudna showed a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had caved in; pigeons nested among its broken windows; refuse lay under a storybook tower. “Many times we don’t win,” she conceded. “Restoration is a coping mechanism for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and aesthetic value.”

In the face of conflict and commercial interests, these activists continue their work, one building at a time, arguing that to save a city’s heart, you must first cherish its walls.