Talk:Dunedin Railway Station

Dunedin Railway Station

I'm not sure who wrote this article. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's comment on the Railway Station in 1954 (from memory) is significant. He identified it as a highly important building at a time when New Zealanders' had lost sight of its merit. It is through this connection it became known to overseas architectural historians. Because of Pevsner's remarks instead of destroying the mosaic floor of the vestibu le it was painstakingly and carefully restored. From memory that was done in 1957. That was very unusual at the time, probably exceptional. That part of the site hadn't been piled which is why the floor had sunk. It had a wonderfully downward concave aspect, which made it seem like a latter day Roman swimming pool. It was "restored" again about the mid 1960s with pressured steam cleaning which was well-intentioned but did a lot of damage. The most recent restoration is interesting and needs to be seen against this history of earlier attempts. Also, when railways were first mooted for Dunedin the idea was floated of having northern and southern termini on either side of the CBD linked by trams - an idea borrowed from London and Paris. This wasn't done but it is the prior part to the discussion outlined in the article and needs a mention, in my view. The scheme adopted instead which made this an online station instead of a terminus has had urban design effects which continue to resonate in Dunedin to this day. NB the discussions around the re-opening of the Rattray Street level crossing, and the matters raised at the hearing for the re-routing of SH88 a few weeks ago are present downstream repercussions of that decision.

Peter Entwisle —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peter Entwisle (talk • contribs) 01:28, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

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