Pierre Cuypers designed the station building, focusing on its decoration and leaving the structural design largely to railway engineers. Construction began in 1882, the building was complete in 1884, and the station opened officially on October 15, 1889. The article describes the building as Gothic and Renaissance Revival.
It sits on three artificial islands in the IJ, built with dune sand from the North Sea Canal excavation, and rests on 8,687 wooden piles. Soil instability delayed construction by several years. L. J. Eijmer designed the platform roof of 50 curved trusses, made in Derby. The introduction gives its span as 130 feet (40 m) and the history section nearly 148 feet (45 m).
The platforms are 2,280 feet (695 m) long, the second longest in the Netherlands. The station has 15 tracks and about 192,000 passengers a day.
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