The article raises some topical issues of preservation and regeneration of the historical environment of residential complexes of the avant-garde modernism period in Ukraine, in particular the deplorable condition of multi-story apartment buildings of the 1920s and 1930s. The reasons for the disfigurement of their authentic appearance by residents (extensions, glazing of balconies, partial "insulation" of facades, etc.) are revealed. Even houses that are included in the register of immovable monuments and have protective signs are undergoing significant transformations. Two essential aspects of the problem: legislative and value ones are highlighted by the author of the article. An analysis of the relevant articles of the Laws and State Building Norms of Ukraine showed that unauthorized actions to change the appearance of a house by the owners of individual apartments and premises are formally illegal, since the facades, adjacent territory, non-residential premises are the common property of all residents. But in fact, the residents are not united legally, have no interest in preserving the authenticity of the historic building. As the experience of advanced European countries, such as Germany, where the 1998 privatization of apartments was carried out, shows, residents' associations and other public organizations play an essential role in preserving the historical residential buildings of the modernist period. The experience of advanced European countries is of interest. In Germany, for example, as in Ukraine, apartments were privatized in 1998. It complicated the task of preserving historic residential buildings. However, society was already prepared to realize the value of the modernist heritage. It is considered prestigious to live in houses of this period. Inhabitants form associations whose purpose, along with the management of the joint property, is also to preserve the authenticity of the building. Great support and assistance to public initiatives is rendered by ICOMOS Germany. Awareness of the value of the house by its residents and owners is an important condition for the preservation of the historical environment and Ukrainian cities today. This was taken into account by the organizers of the workshop with the participation of German and Ukrainian students-architects, which was held in autumn 2017 in Zaporizhzha. An integral part of their project was a detailed plan to involve the residents of the quarter, erected in the late 1920s and early 1930s, in the process of its revitalization.