This is the third railway station to be built at Otaki and, externally, is considered to be a fine example of the work of George Alexander Troup (1863-1941), chief architect of New Zealand Railways, and later Mayor of Wellington. The first Otaki Railway Station was built by the privately-owned Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company in 1886. In 1908 the government acquired the company and a year later a new railway station was built. In July 1910 the station was destroyed by fire leaving only the iron posts from the verandah that had been recently erected.

Plans for the replacement station were based along similar lines to the station at Levin-essentially a 'Type B' Troup station. Simply put, a Type B station consisted of a gabled wooden rectangular structure and a corrugated iron clad roof. Most of the windows were double-hung sash. The plans for Otaki station also included accommodation for a post office and a refreshment room in fulfilment of previous lease agreements. At this time it was not uncommon for the railway station to also serve as a post office and telephone exchange, and the Post and Telegraph Department contributed to the construction costs for the new railway station. The design also incorporated the verandah of the previous station.

The third Otaki Railway Station was opened in February 1911. The refreshment room was closed in 1919, although a bookstall continued to operate from the station. In 1951 the post office vacated the building in favour of a new, centrally located building. In 1986 Otaki Station was designated a special purpose station. The station continues to be used by train passengers, but the interior has been leased out by the Crown to the Otaki Railway Station Community Trust for commercial purposes.

This station building is one of a rare and diminishing group of vintage railway stations built to a design by George Troup, the Railways Department's first architect. Troup had a major influence on station building design over a long period and Otaki is a fine example of a Type B building. Its largely intact exterior is particularly noteworthy. Historically the building is of very great local significance as the principal gateway for goods and people in and out of the town, until the influence of the railway diminished in the latter half of the 20th century.