Dozens of reptiles, birds and various kinds of fish have lived here since 1925.
These days, the State Naturalistic Center for Students is struggling to survive on meager state financing, but the enthusiasm of its workers keeps it afloat.
'Probably, this is the last stronghold of the Soviet Union,' said Dmytro Kucher-Tomchenko, who manages the center's aquarium and terrarium sections. 'This may be the last place in Kyiv where children and teen-agers can come to spend their time and at the same time learn what they like, free of charge.'
Some 1,200 children of different ages come to the center annually for extra-curricular studies of biology, zoology, animal breeding, plant growing and other related fields.
Founded 75 years ago on the basis of what was the largest aquarium center in pre-Soviet Russia, the center today has hundreds of fish species and dozens of different species of birds and reptiles.
Each course offered by the center lasts for two years, with weekly classes of four to five hours, but many of the attending animal lovers spend all day, studying their favorite creatures.
'Some of them continue visiting us here even after completing their course,' Kucher-Tomchenko said.
The center's staff is composed mainly of its former students who returned to their favorite place of studies after earning university degrees in biology or ecology.
Each maintains an aquarium or terrarium at home, and through contacts with other fish or reptile lovers helps bring new species to the center.
'My work is my hobby,' Kucher-Tomchenko said. 'I have 45 years' experience collecting and raising fish; my house is full of aquariums, and so are the houses of my colleagues.'
Serhy, an 18-year-old university student, is one of the center's younger followers.
He studied the center's collection of fish several years ago but continues to work there, teaching other visiting students how to tend to the fish.
'We have our own policy,' said Serhy, who gave only his first name. 'The members of our group cannot smoke or drink because they need to take care of animals.'
Serhy learned one thing during his studies: Fish are able to distinguish among people, he said.
'I have raised them,' he said, putting his hand in the aquarium containing dangerous carnivorous fish. 'They recognize me, and they won't bite my hand.'
For the family of Yaroslav and Natalia Oliynyk, who take care of the center's reptiles, their job – albeit low-paid – is their life as well.
Sharing their one-room apartment are cobras, pythons and chameleons.
'They require thorough care,' Yaroslav Oliynyk said. 'It is very important that part of the terrarium is at room temperature and the other is warmer, 32 to 35 degrees Celsius, for the reptiles to get warmer.'
Oliynyk is very proud of his collection. Nine chameleons he got by accident are his favorites.
'Someone brought a female chameleon from abroad and she gave birth to a dozen small lizards,' Oliynyk said. 'He gave me nine, and the rest, as far as I know, died.'
Although the center has a unique collection of living species, many of which can be found nowhere else in Ukraine, the cash-strapped government has been unable to provide it with adequate funding in recent years. As a result, the only thing that fuels the center's existence is the enthusiasm of its workers.
'Only enthusiasts work here,' Kucher-Tomchenko said. 'We only wish we had more money to improve the living conditions for our snakes, birds and fish.'
The center mostly serves scientific purposes, lending living material for researchers to work on their papers, and its specialists are often invited by Kyiv schools to read lectures. However, money matters stand in the way.
'Our specialists are hardly paid,' Kucher-Tomchenko said. 'We do not have money to pay them for this extra work.'
