The 1884 buildings were designed by the New South Wales Government Railways and built by C. Mayes; the 1918 footbridge was manufactured by Dorman Long.

[3] Tempe station opened on 15 October 1884 on the same date as of the Illawarra line from Redfern to Hurstville with two side platforms.

To the north of the station lies the junction with the Metropolitan Goods line and the XPT Service Centre.

Tempe Railway Station is located along Griffiths Street to the east and Richardsons Crescent and Mackey Park to the west.

[3] The station buildings are essentially intact externally and internally with the exception of the overhead booking office, which has been reclad and re-roofed, however is the original structure.

There are three original large timber stop-chamfered posts to the east side of the ticket office which have been cut short at the bottom, and now have concrete bases.

The Dorman Long & Co steel haunched beam footbridge design consists of two sets of taper-haunched girders, with cantilevers resting on platform trestles and supporting shallow beams over the railway tracks to provide headroom over rolling stock.

The central beam of the footbridge has been cut and raised to clear electric wires, when the line was electrified in 1926.

[3] Tempe Railway Station is of aesthetic significance for its two 1884 platform buildings which are fine intact examples of vernacular railway platform buildings of the late Victorian period demonstrating Victorian Rustic Gothic style design influences, rare for their high level of integrity.

Tempe Railway Station is of aesthetic significance generally for its setting, with open space to the west, the Cooks River to the south, and a densely built up residential area to the east.

[3] Tempe railway station was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

[3] The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

[3] Tempe Railway Station is also of aesthetic significance for its interesting setting, with open space to the west, the Cooks River to the south, and a densely built up residential area to the east.

[3] The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

The extant exterior and interior detailing of the 1884 platform buildings at Tempe is considered rare on the Illawarra line.

[3] The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.

[3] This Wikipedia article contains material from Tempe Railway Station Group, entry number 01266 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.