The little-known, tiny Lane named Yahotynskyi, located near the train station, is virtually unremarkable; it is essentially a dead-end street for cars, and there are very few buildings there.

But there is one thing that stands out—the dormitory of the Institute for Retraining and Professional Development at the Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport.

Long-time residents of the Kharkiv State University of Railway Transport say that the building at Yahotynskyi Lane, 2 was originally built as a dormitory for the Kharkiv Institute of Railway Transport Operations and Traction during the interwar period (the 1920s and 1930s), meaning its purpose has remained unchanged.

It’s hard to pin down the style—it’s more of an eclectic mix with hints of both Constructivism and Art Nouveau.

Originally, this lane used to be called Leusovsky; all sorts of people lived here—merchants, townspeople, nobles… For example, in 1909, Nikolai Sigismundovich Winkler lived in the first house; he was a nobleman, a retired officer, and the owner of a bookstore in Kharkiv at Moskovskaya Street, 25. Meanwhile, in 1911, Joseph Alexandrovich Brodovich, a Master of Theology and an extraordinary professor at Kharkiv University, lived in the ninth house.

After World War II and until 2024, the lane was named after Lisa Chaykina, an underground resistance activist who was shot by German troops in November 1941 in the Kalinin (now Tver) region.

A dormitory building at the Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport was damaged in a Russian missile strike on May 14, 2023.