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

Lesia Danylenko showed off with satisfaction her newly installed front door. Volunteers had playfully nicknamed its ornate transom window the “croissant”, a whimsical nod to its bowed shape. “I think it’s more of a peafowl,” she stated, gazing at its branch-like features. The restoration project at one of Kyiv’s early 20th-century art nouveau houses was made possible by residents, who marked the occasion with two impromptu pavement parties.

It was also an act of opposition against a neighboring state, she explained: “We are trying to live like normal people regardless of the war. It’s about arranging our life in the best possible way. We’re not afraid of living in Ukraine. I could have left, relocating to Italy. Instead, I’m here. The new entrance represents our allegiance to our homeland.”

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

Safeguarding Kyiv’s architectural heritage could be considered paradoxical at a period when aerial assaults frequently hit the capital, bringing death and destruction. Since the beginning of the current year, offensive operations have been significantly intensified. After each attack, workers cover blown-out windows with plywood and attempt, where possible, to salvage residential buildings.

Among the Conflict, a Campaign for Identity

Amid the bombs, a group of activists has been attempting to save the city’s deteriorating mansions, built in a distinctive style known as Ukrainian modernism. Danylenko’s house is in the historic Shevchenkivskyi district. It was built in 1906 and was originally the home of a wealthy fur dealer. Its exterior is embellished with horse chestnut leaves and intricate camomile flowers.

“These buildings represent symbols of Kyiv. These properties are quite rare in the present day,” Danylenko noted. The mansion was designed by an architect of Central European origin. Several other buildings in the vicinity exhibit analogous art nouveau characteristics, including a lack of symmetry – with a medieval spire on one side and a turret on the other. One much-loved house in the area displays two forlorn white stucco cats, as well as owls, masks and a devil.

Dual Dangers to Heritage

But external attacks is only one threat. Preservation campaigners say they face unscrupulous developers who raze listed buildings, dishonest officials and a governing class apathetic or hostile to the city’s profound architectural history. The severe winter climate presents another burden.

“Kyiv is a city where money wins. We don’t have substantive political will to save our heritage,” said Dmytro Perov, an activist. He asserted the city’s mayor was friends with many of the developers who destroy important houses. Perov stated that the concept for the capital comes straight out of a previous decade. The mayor has refuted these claims, saying they originate from political rivals.

Perov said many of the community-oriented activists who once protected older properties were now fighting on the frontline or had been lost. The protracted conflict meant that all citizens was facing economic hardship, he added, including judicial figures who mysteriously ruled in favour of suspect new-build schemes. “The longer this goes on the more we see degradation of our society and state bodies,” he remarked.

Demolition and Abandonment

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 committed to preserve its charming brick facade. In the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion, heavy machinery razed it to the ground. Recently, a crane dug 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 coloured houses on the site. Sometimes developers destroyed old properties while asserting they were doing “scientific study”, he said. A former political system also caused immense damage on the capital, redesigning its main thoroughfare after the second world war so it could allow for large-scale parades.

Continuing the Work

One of Kyiv’s most prominent champions of historic buildings, a cultural activist, was killed in 2022 while engaged in the frontline. His colleague Nelli Chudna said she and other volunteers were continuing his important preservation work. There were originally 3,500 masonry mansions in Kyiv, many erected for the city’s prosperous business magnates. Only 80 of their original doors survived, she said.

“It was not aerial bombardments that destroyed them. It was us,” she said with regret. “The war could go on for another 20 years. If we fail to protect architecture now not a thing will be left,” she continued. Chudna recently helped to restore a full of character creeper-covered 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 red door and original-style railings; inside is a historic washroom 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 residents not appreciate the past? “Regrettably they do not have education and taste. It’s all about business. We are trying as a country to go to the west. But we are still some distance away from that standard,” he said. Soviet-era ways of thinking remained, with people reluctant to take personal responsibility for their urban environment, he added.

Hope in Restoration

Some buildings are falling apart because of institutional abandonment. Chudna showed a once-magical villa concealed behind a modern hospital. Its roof had collapsed; pigeons nested among its broken windows; debris lay under a storybook tower. “Many times we lose the battle,” she conceded. “Restoration is a form of healing for us. We are trying to save all this heritage and splendour.”

In the face of war and neglect, these citizens continue their work, one building at a time, stating that to preserve a city’s heart, you must first protect its history.