Seoul Railway Station was built of stone and red brick during the period 1922-1925 during the Japanese Occupation. It is a 2-story building with a basement floor. The 1st floor was built by the technique used to build palaces in the Renaissance style. The 2nd floor and the upper part of the 1st floor were built of red brick with partial decoration in granite. As the population and the cargos carried in and out of Seoul through railways skyrocketed, South and West Seoul Stations were newly built for cargos in 1960s. Since then, the Seoul Station Building had been used only for passengers. As of January 2004, New Seoul Station opened and the former building was closed. Between August 2011 and July 2009, a renovation project was carried out both to restore the value of this closed station as a cultural heritage and to have it used as a whole new cultural place. Now it reopened as ‘Culture Station Seoul 284,’ a culture space for exhibition, lecture, performance, and movies.