Possibly the best-known building in the southern half of New Zealand's South Island, Dunedin Railway Station is a jewel in the country's architectural crown.
Designed by George Troup, the station is the fourth building to have served as Dunedin's railway station. It earned its architect the nickname of "Gingerbread George".
In Flemish style, it is constructed from local dark basalt rock capped with lighter Oamaru stone, giving it the distinctive light and dark pattern common to many of the more stately buildings of Dunedin and Christchurch. The booking hall features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 tiles of Royal Doulton porcelain. Its main platform is the country's longest, being one kilometre in length. It was opened in 1906 by Prime Minister Joseph Ward. A thorough refurbishment of the exterior took place in the late 1990s, accompanied by the landscaping of the gardens outside the entrance, in Anzac Square.
With the decrease in passenger rail traffic, the station now serves more functions that the one for which it was originally designed. It is still the city's railway station, catering for the Otago Excursion Train Trust's Taieri Gorge Railway tourist train. Much of its ground floor is now used as a restaurant, and the upper floor is home to both the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame and the Otago Art Society. (Full article...)