In an eclectic, revived Flemish renaissance style, (Renaissance Revival architecture), the station is constructed from dark basalt from Kokonga in the Strath-Taieri with lighter Oamaru stone facings, giving it the distinctive light and dark pattern common to many of the grander buildings of Dunedin and Christchurch. Pink granite[3] was used for a series of supporting pillars which line a colonnade at the front of the building. The roof was tiled in terracotta shingles from Marseilles[4] surmounted by copper-domed cupolas.[5] The southern end of the building is dominated by the 37-metre clocktower which is visible from much of central Dunedin.
The booking hall features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 Minton tiles. A frieze of Royal Doulton porcelain runs around the balcony above it from which the floor's design (featuring a locomotive and related symbols) can be clearly seen.[6] The station's main platform is the country's longest,[citation needed] extending for about 500 metres.
The building's foundation stone was laid by the Minister of Railways Joseph Ward on June 3, 1904.[1] The Prime Minister Richard Seddonwas also present. The station was opened by Ward, by then Prime Minister, in 1906. The construction of the building was kept within budget, and cost £40,000.[7]
In its early days, the station was the country's busiest, handling up to 100 trains a day, including suburban services to Mosgiel and Port Chalmers, Railcars to Palmerston and the Otago Central Branch and other trains to Christchurch and Invercargill. The city's economic decline and the reduction in the prominence of rail transport mean that only a handful of trains use the station today.
The station used to have dock platforms at both the north and south ends and a crossover midway along the main platform. Large shunting yards, most of which have now gone, occupied land to the south of the station. Much of this land has now been subdivided into wholesale and light industrial properties.
With the decrease in passenger rail traffic, the station now serves more functions than the one for which it was originally designed. Bought by the Dunedin City Council in 1994, the station's uses have greatly diversified, though 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. A produce market is held in the station's grounds to the north of the building every Saturday morning. Every year in March, the station takes centre stage in the South Island's main fashion show, with the main platform becoming reputedly the world's longest catwalk.
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.[9]
In October 2006, the centenary of the station was celebrated with a festival of railway events, including the operation of eight steam railway locomotives from all over New Zealand. In 2006 the Dunedin Railway Station was recognised by DK Eyewitness Travel as one of "The World's 200 Must-See Places".[10][11]
On February 12, 2008, a freak accident occurred when a container wagon struck and partially destroyed a historic footbridge which stands at the southern end of the station. Four pedestrians were on the bridge at the time, with one suffering minor injuries when she fell 4.5 metres from the wreckage.[12] Reconstruction of a footbridge of similar design on the same site joining Anzac Square with the industrial zone close to Dunedin's wharves was carried out during in September–October 2008.[13]