 cathays park or cardiff civic centrehttp://www.bigcardiff.co.uk/cardiff-visitor-guide.php?venue_id=272 () is a civic centre area in the city centre of cardiff, the capital city of wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, alexandra gardens. it includes edwardian buildings such as the temple of peace, city hall, the national museum and gallery of wales and several buildings belonging to the cardiff university campus. it also includes cardiff crown court, the administrative headquarters of the welsh government, and the more modern cardiff central police station. the pevsner architectural guide to the historic county of glamorgan judges cathays park to be "the finest civic centre in the british isles". p. 220 the area falls within the cathays electoral ward. ==history==  the present day character of the area owes much to successive holders of the title the marquess of bute, and especially the 3rd marquess of bute, an extremely successful and wealthy businessman. they acquired much of the lands in cathays through investment and by inheritance through a marriage to charlotte windsor in 1766. in 1898, the local council bought  of land from the 3rd marquess of bute in order to erect a new town hall. as part of the sale, the 3rd marquis of bute placed strict conditions on how the land was to be developed. the area was to be used for civic, cultural and educational purposes, and the avenues were to be preserved. in 1897 a competition was held for a complex comprising law courts and a town hall, with alfred waterhouse, architect of the natural history museum in london, as judge. the winners were the firm of [[henry vaughan lanchester|lanchester, ste
Buildings_and_structures_in_Cardiff Cathays Districts_of_Cardiff Edwardian_architecture Landmarks_in_Cardiff Parks_in_Cardiff Politics_of_Cardiff