A fire at a Kyiv landmark on Feb. 9 has intensified a dispute between preservationists and a property developer who wants to transform the place, known as Hostynny Dvir, into an office and shopping center.
Activist Yevhen Parfionov, who was on the night shift at the Podil landmark to prevent the developer from bringing in construction equipment, said he smelled smoke around 2 a.m. He then saw smoke billowing on the roof over the western arch and called firefighters.
It took more than five hours to contain the blaze. Police blamed the fire on faulty electric wiring.
The ruling is disputed.
“There are several arguments that all this was not accidental,” said Vladyslava Osmak, another activist. “It was a whole system clearly aimed at completely destroying the building.”
Firefighters couldn’t access the attic because the doors had been welded shut by the property developer. Crane-equipped fire trucks arrived only an hour and a half after the fire started. Activists stayed behind to assist the firefighters while the developer’s security guards disappeared.
The preservationists believe the fire started in three places, not in one. The fire also forced a state institute located on the second floor to vacate.
“This is, in fact, what the developer was dreaming about and what he badly needed now,” Ihor Lutsenko, head of nongovernmental organization Save Old Kyiv, wrote on his Facebook page.
The only institution left in the building is a state-owned architectural library.
Dmytro Yarych, director of Ukrrestavracia, the property developer that wants to transform the landmark and which currently rents the building from the State Property Fund, denied any responsibility for the fire. He accused activists of starting the fire.
“We believe the fire happened because activists illegally connected to the grid on the first floor to heat the rooms where they stayed,” Yarych said. “Because of that the old wiring on the attic broke and wooden parts of the roof were set on fire.”
The fire destroyed at least 15 percent of the attic floor and roof. The building had also been waterlogged.
“Clearly, it’s very dangerous for the building during winter,” warned Lutsenko.
Timeline of Kyiv landmark Hostynny Dvir
1971-1990 – Reconstruction of Hostynny Dvir based on the 1809 project by neoclassical architect of Italian origin Luigi Rusca.
Aug. 15, 2011 – Prime Minister Mykola Azarov signs a decree, according to which Hostynny Dvir was excluded from the list of architectural monuments protected by the state.
April 26, 2012 – Kyiv City Administration issues a permit to property developer Ukrrestavracia, a company owned by Cyprus-registered Afidreko Holdings Limited, to develop a land project for future reconstruction of Hostynny Dvir into a shopping and office center.
May 26, 2012 – During celebrations of Day of Kyiv, public activists take over the courtyard of Hostynny Dvir and start to hold lectures, exhibitions, concerts, movie screenings and other public events there to protest plans to turn the historical building into a shopping and office center without public debate.
June 20, 2012 – Activists initiate a lawsuit to the Administrative District Court of Kyiv in order to resume Hostynny Dvir’s status as an architectural monument. Judges Vitaliy Ameliokhin, Yevhen Ablov and Andriy Fedorchuk four times deny activist requests to order construction stoppages while case is being heard.
July 5, 2012 – Verkhovna Rada vote to exclude Hostynny Dvir from a list of monuments of cultural heritage that cannot be privatized.
Dec. 19, 2012 – Masked security guards of Ukrrestavracia use tear gas in a brawl with activists. Members of parliament, including Vitali Klitschko, visit the site of conflict.
Dec. 21, 2012 – Ministry of Culture recognizes Kontraktova Square, were Hostynny Dvir is located, a monument of city construction.
Feb. 6, 2013 – Ukrrestavracia attempts to bring in construction vehicles and equipment but is stopped by activists.
Feb. 9, 2013 – A night fire that lasts over five hours destroys part of Hostynny Dvir’s attic floor and roof.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected].
