Barban Estate

The historic Barban Estate is an endangered example of a one-storey middle-class house in Kyiv. It was once home to Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, and the Kultura ta Zhyttia newspaper, which employed various prominent Ukrainian cultural figures, was housed here.

Barban Estate, Kyiv, st. Observatorna, 6

In 2021, the authorities tried to raze the estate to the ground to build a multi-story residential complex instead. The pre-revolutionary wing was dismantled, and the rear facade of the main building was partially destroyed, but the main volume of the building remained standing. The side facades and the roof were damaged.

Barban Estate after the destruction of part of the main building

The community defended Barban Estate, stopping the dismantling. On August 21, 2021, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine ordered the restoration of the estate and an assessment of its demolition.

Barban Estate with protesters' tent

As of 2024, the dismantling work was stopped, and the estate was under arrest. The main building was partially destroyed by machinery, so the remaining part continues to deteriorate due to weather. However, the main facade of the building, along with the decoration, has been preserved and needs protection and the entire building needs restoration.

Detail of the decoration of the Estate

From the very start, the Mapa team took an active stance on preserving the valuable example of a one-story mansion in the centre of Kyiv. We researched all the existing archival data and documented unique architectural features—everything that is valuable in the opinion of architects, monument specialists, and architectural historians. With the help of an expert team, we prepared the supporting documentation.

The estate on the archival master plan of the city

Since 2021, we have repeatedly discussed the documentation with specialists from the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection and the scientific structure of the Kyiv Scientific and Research Centre, received comments and clarifications, and made corrections. At the end of 2022, the NGO ‘Map of Renovation’ officially submitted the revised documentation to the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection of Kyiv to be granted the status of a Newly discovered cultural heritage object. However, the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection requested new amendments to the submitted documentation.

The documents were further revised, new historical facts were discovered, and the documents were submitted to the Department in October 2023 (submitting entity: NGO ‘Renovation Map’).

Archival materials

In 2024, the initiative group of activists, together with the Research and Design Centre for Architectural and Urban Heritage LLC, further processed the documentation and submitted it to the Ministry of Culture. After that, the building received the status of a Newly discovered cultural heritage object, which the Department granted on 13 September 2024. For the building to receive the status of a monument of local significance, an Order of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine must be issued.

At the moment, obtaining the status of a Newly discovered cultural heritage object is a decent result. People who were involved in work on the documentation: Oleksandr Mykhailyk, Yevheniia Skok, Anatolii Khoroshylov, Alyona Kustovska, Vitaliia Barkar, Ivan Stychynskyi, and Kateryna Honcharova. We are grateful to Pavlo Tretiakov, Yuliia Kuzmenko, Anton Korchahin, and Mariia Borysova for the high-quality photographic documentation of the building.

We are sincerely grateful to everyone who joined in and did not stand aside because the protected status guarantees careful restoration❤️