Dunedin Railway Station

If George Alexander Troup could see the elegant and grand Railway Station he designed, he would be very impressed. He would be even more astounded to see it lit-up at night. But, most of all, he would be even more stunned to be here at all since he died in 1941. When a new Railway Station building was needed for Dunedin, a competition was held to design the new building, and to the astonishment of presumably everyone except Troup himself, he won.

The station he designed is a grand affair, with a central entrance hall bookended by long, dignified wings. It was built from Kokanga basalt perched atop a base of Port Chalmers basalt, with Oamaru stone flourishes to keep things interesting. The basalt came from a quarry in Central Otago that was opened specifically for the project, because if you’re going to build something of this scale, you might as well not just be functional but suitably dramatic, as maybe all good railway stations should be.