In the very heart of Kyiv stands a house whose history has proved more dramatic than that of many of the city's grander buildings: constructed in the late nineteenth century, the Malinin Estate has survived changes of ownership, alterations, repeated attempts at demolition, and even its actual destruction—yet today there are plans to restore its historic appearance.
The estate at 22 Oleksandra Konyskoho Street (formerly Turhenevska Street) was built around 1890 for the merchant and professor Vasyl Malinin. Originally, it was a one-story wooden building faced with brick. Its architecture combined elements of Historicism and Neo-Renaissance style: restrained brick ornamentation, pilasters, and window pediments of varying forms gave the façade its distinctive character. From 1911 to 1915, the family of Yevmen Zelenskyi, a prosperous Kyiv townsman and honorary citizen, lived here, and the house consequently acquired a second name—the Zelenskyi Estate. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a mezzanine was added above the main structure.
For many years, the estate remained one of the oldest buildings on the street. In the twenty-first century, however, it came under threat of destruction. The first attempts to dismantle it began in 2018, and in 2021 the house was included on a list of historic buildings requiring additional protection. Despite public outcry, court rulings, and arrests, the estate was demolished on July 19, 2024. Paradoxically, just four days later, the Ministry of Culture granted it the status of an architectural landmark.
Today, the estate's story has entered a new chapter. Emergency stabilization and conservation work began in 2025, and in July 2026, a project for its restoration and reconstruction was approved in Kyiv. The plans call for preserving authentic fragments, reusing conserved bricks from the demolished structure, and restoring its historic proportions, layout, façades, and roof. The work is to be carried out using the existing foundations and load-bearing walls. Thus, the Malinin Estate is no longer simply a monument to a lost Kyiv, but an example of how a historic building can be brought back into the urban landscape even after its destruction.
