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

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her recently completed front door. Local helpers had given the moniker its graceful transom window the “pastry”, a whimsical nod to its curved shape. “I think it’s more of a showy bird,” she remarked, admiring its branch-like features. The renovation effort at one of Kyiv’s turn-of-the-century art nouveau houses was funded through residents, who celebrated with several neighbourhood pavement parties.

It was also an demonstration of resistance in the face of an invading force, she elaborated: “Our aim is to live like ordinary people regardless of the war. It’s about shaping our life in the most positive way. We have no fear of living in Ukraine. I could have left, relocating to another European nation. On the contrary, I’m here. The new entrance symbolizes our allegiance to our homeland.”

“We strive to live like normal people in spite of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the optimal way.”

Safeguarding Kyiv’s built legacy seems strange at a moment when drone attacks frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the start of the current year, aerial raids have been significantly intensified. After each attack, workers board up broken windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to save residential buildings.

Within the Conflict, a Fight for Identity

Amid the bombs, a group of activists has been attempting to save the city’s crumbling mansions, built in a whimsical style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the downtown Shevchenkivskyi district. It was erected in 1906 and was initially the home of a prosperous fur dealer. Its outer walls is decorated with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are uncommon nowadays,” Danylenko said. The mansion was designed by a designer of Central European origin. Several other buildings nearby showcase similar art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a projection on the other. One popular house in the area displays two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Dual Challenges to Legacy

But military aggression is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unprincipled developers who raze protected buildings, corrupt officials and a governing class apathetic or opposed to the city’s rich architectural history. The harsh winter climate presents another difficulty.

“Kyiv is a city where wealth dictates. We lack genuine political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s leadership was friends with many of the developers who flatten important houses. Perov added that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a different time. The mayor rejects these claims, stating they come from political rivals.

Perov said many of the public-spirited activists who once defended older properties were now engaged in combat or had been killed. The lengthy conflict meant that the entire society was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of questionable new-build schemes. “The longer this persists the more we see decline of our society and governing institutions,” he argued.

Loss and Neglect

One glaring demolition site 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. In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, excavators razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane prepared 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 coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers demolished old properties while asserting they were doing “archaeological research”, he said. A former political system also inflicted immense damage on the capital, redesigning its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could facilitate official processions.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most notable advocates of historic buildings, a heritage expert, was fell in 2022 while serving 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 constructed for the city’s successful business magnates. Only 80 of their original doors survived, she said.

“It wasn’t external attacks that destroyed 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 added. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character vine-clad house built in 1910, which acts as the headquarters of her cultural organization and also serves as a film set and museum. The property has a new vermilion portal and period-correct railings; inside is a period bathroom and antique mirrors.

“The war could continue for another 20 years. If we neglect architecture now not a thing will be left.”

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

Resilience in Preservation

Some buildings are crumbling because of bureaucratic indifference. Chudna pointed to a once-magical villa tucked away behind a modern hospital. Its roof had fallen; pigeons nested among its smashed windows; refuse lay under a whimsical tower. “Many times we are unsuccessful,” she admitted. “This activity is a coping mechanism for us. We are striving to save all this heritage and splendour.”

In the face of destruction and development pressures, these volunteers continue their work, one building at a time, stating that to preserve a city’s heart, you must first cherish its walls.