Dunedin Railway Station

Possibly the best-known building in the southern half of New Zealand's South Island, the 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 main railway depot. It earned its architect a knighthood, and also the nickname of "Gingerbread George".

The station, designed in a Flemish style, is constructed from local dark basalt rock capped with lighter Oamaru stone, giving it the distinctive light and dark pattern common in many of the more stately buildings of both Dunedin and Christchurch. The main foyer of the building features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 tiles of Royal Doulton porcelain. The station's main platform is the country's longest, being one kilometre in length.

The building was opened in 1906. A thorough refurbishment of the exterior of the building took place in the late 1990s, accompanied by the landscaping of the gardens outside the front entrance of the building (Anzac Square).

With the decrease in rail traffic, the station now serves more functions that the one for which it was originally designed. It is still the city's main railway station, catering for both freight traffic and the Otago Excursion Train Trust's Taieri Gorge Railway tourist service. Much of the station's ground floor, however, is now used as a restaurant, and the upper floor is used as an art gallery and as the home to The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Every year in October, the station takes centre stage in the South Island's main fashion show, with the main platform becoming reputedly the world's longest catwalk.