The Kyiv home of the Ukrainian-born aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky has stood abandoned and disused for around 30 years. The Defense Ministry has now intervened in a bid to bring the building back to life – but some say this is just another chapter in the building’s unfortunate saga of slow decay.
In 2000, a 49-year
lease for the building was signed with the Museum of Aviation and
Aeronautics Fund, but the charitable foundation failed to live up to its
promises to restore the building in memory of Sikorsky. Now, the
building faces destruction.
The Defense
Ministry on Nov. 9 began court proceedings to invalidate the 49-year lease and
regain control over the building, issuing a scathing statement against the
charitable foundation.
“The Ukrainian Defense Ministry began the
legal process to break the lease agreement between the historical building and
the questionable fund, whose purpose is not charity, but vandalism. The National
Museum of Military History of Ukraine, as part of the Ministry of Defense,
believes its main task is to preserve it as a monument of history and, of
course, to create a Museum of Aeronautics and Aircraft,” the ministry announced on its website on Nov. 5.
Ukrainian-American, former U.S. Congressman Jim Slattery promised to discuss the matter at the meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, and with Sikorsky’s company in the U.S.
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Sikorsky’s
house is one of the many historical buildings which have been left to rot in
central Kyiv. Some blame the lack of property tax. Unlike in
other countries, in Ukraine, owners don’t lose money from letting buildings
stand empty. It is also cheaper for investors to build a new building in the
same spot than to rennovate an old building to architectural
standards.
Businessman
Ivan Filipovich of the Democratic Alliance party, which has been agitating for
the building to be made into a museum, told the Kyiv Post outside the court on
Nov. 9 that the Museum of Aviation and Aeronautics Fund is owned indirectly by
senior ex-Party of Regions politician Nestor Shufrich.
“Nestor
Shurfich stands behind the fund, the ex-Party of Regions member of parliament.
In 2000, he took, took number 15 B
Yaroslaviv Val [Sikorsky’s house]…But he didn’t need a building. He needed the
expensive land in the centre of Kyiv to build a hotel and office complex. The
fund is intentionally, and intensively, creating a ruin out of the building…so
that they can tear it down,” said Filipovich.
The fund
has six founders, including Maria Shufrich, Nestor’s mother who died in 2010
and Vyachislav Cherepanya, Nestor’s assistant who is believed to own several
companies on his behalf.
Sikorsky is
credited with creating the first mass-produced helicopter and designing the
first multi-engine fixed-wing airplane. He was the chief engineer for Russian
Baltic Railroad Car Works in St Petersburg. In 1919, during the Bolshevik Civil
War, Sikorsky moved to the United States via Paris, where he continued to make
aeronautical history. It was in this Kyiv house that Sikorsky built his first
two helicopters.
“We want
the building to be transferred back to the Defense Ministry so that they can
start reconstructing it because at the moment it is not happening,” said
Kristina Morobova, the Democratic Alliance PR Manager.
The
building’s renovation is likely to cost millions of dollars. For instance,
Sergey Burya of Vector real estate earlier told the Kyiv Post that the
restoration of a similarly run-down building — the former Praha hotel — would
cost in the region of $50-60
million dollars. It is unclear how the Defense Ministry plans to finance the project.
“First we
need the documents to say it is ours and then we will think about what to do
with it,” the ministry’s press service told the Kyiv Post. “As you can see on our Facebook page we have
gone to the community. Just like during the war, people will come together…we
need to consult people on how best to create the museum.”
It is
unlikely the Defense Ministry or the National Museum of Military History of
Ukraine, the department overseeing the project, will be able to raise the
necessary funds.
“All the
money that they don’t steal, they can put towards a museum,” said Filipovych.
“They’re
not going to do anything,” interrupted Valentina Lachina, a retired economist
who saw a notice for the protest and came with homemade placards.
Lachina
believes that it will be up to the people to restore the building. “It is a
different time now. There are volunteers who will help,” she said.
It remains
to be seen whether the Defense Ministry can rise to the task, but they insist
that the priority at the moment is to legally own the building before they can
factor it into the budget.
In 2014, the U.S. Embassy,
which resides on the same street and requested the street be named after
Sikorsky, said they would cooperate with activists to restore the building but
have yet to pledge any money.
“How long it will take is hard to say,” said the director of the National Military History Museum of Ukraine Vyachislav Taranits. “If let’s say the US Embassy is involved and it is more of a political priority it will happen quicker…The public need to be made aware of that this is an object of serious historical interest worldwide.”
Kyiv Post staff
writer Isobel Koshiw can be reached at [email protected]
