You're reading: Fire damages another historical building in central Kyiv

A fire in central Kyiv raised questions about the preservation of decaying historical buildings scattered around the city center.

A fire broke out at 7:40 pm on Jan. 20 on the fifth floor of a historical building on 12-14 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St. The State Service for Emergency Situations of Ukraine said that by 11:28 pm fire had been brought under control. No casualties or injuries were reported as the building stood empty.

The 19th century building originally served as a “revenue house” – a house with apartments for rent. Prior to the fire, it has been standing abandoned for years. It was put on Kyiv’s architectural heritage list and was in critical condition.

The Saturday blaze was not the first incident in this property.

In February 2016, the building’s top floor collapsed killing two construction workers. Then Kyiv city administration claimed that construction works had been carried out without permits and in violation of safety rules. The Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case into the matter and a year later announced suspicion to the construction site supervisor. However, the case is still open, and no one has been held accountable for the death of two people.

It is unknown who the real owners of 12-14 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street are. Journalistic investigations traced the connections back to a former high-profile government official Viktor Boiko and his wife Iryna.

Kyiv has dozens of abandoned historical buildings with obscure ownership hidden behind shell companies and nominee directors.

Unfortunately, under current legislation owners of historical property have no incentive to restore it. Due to high prices on land in the center of Kyiv, property owners pay little to no property tax. And for developers it is cheaper to allow a building to collapse and use a vacant space for a new structure than to restore a heritage site.

Member of the Kyiv City Council Serhiy Gusovskyi wrote in a post on Facebook on Jan. 20 that such incidents prove that money wins over Kyiv’s historical heritage.

“It’s time to give an ultimatum to all owners of architectural monuments: either they immediately sign an agreement with financial guarantees for the preservation (of old buildings), or the buildings will be returned to the state,” he wrote. “After that — search for a new owner. A responsible one.”

He added that today, there is no law that would allow local communities to take over the ownership of historical buildings.