Dunedin Railway Station

Dunedin's station opened in 1906 to a design by George Troup, and it is the most extravagant piece of architecture in a city with plenty of competition. The walls are dark basalt trimmed with pale Oamaru limestone, a deliberate two-tone effect, under a clock tower and a long colonnade. Inside, the booking hall floor is laid with tiny Royal Doulton porcelain tiles arranged in patterns, and the stained glass windows on the stair carry locomotives rather than saints. The station was built for a busy provincial railway that has largely gone; today a handful of scenic services leave from the platforms, up the Taieri Gorge and along the coast, and the building's main function is to be looked at.

What you actually see

• The booking hall floor - a mosaic of tiny porcelain tiles laid in railway motifs.
• The stained glass - stair and gallery windows showing locomotives and company insignia.
• The two-tone exterior - dark basalt walls trimmed with pale Oamaru limestone, under a clock tower.
• The platforms - the long canopied platforms, usually empty between scenic departures.

When to go

The booking hall is open through the day and free, and it is one of the few things in Dunedin that a wet afternoon does not spoil. Morning light comes through the stair windows best. Weekends bring wedding parties to the front steps almost continuously. If you want the building to feel like a station, time your visit around a scenic train departure.

Honest expectations

It is barely a working railway station: a few tourist departures rather than a timetable, and the platforms are usually deserted. Half an hour covers it unless you are taking a train. The upper floors house other tenants and are not generally open. The immediate surroundings are workaday industrial streets rather than a handsome square, which surprises people who have only seen the postcard angle.

Nearby

The Octagon, the Otago Settlers Museum and Dunedin's Victorian commercial streets are all a short walk uphill.