Cardiff Civic Centre

The blip photo is an early Sunday morning aerial view of Cardiff Civic Centre (on the right), Crown Court (the left) and behind is Cardiff City Centre Police Station. Behind the Civic Centre you can see the Welsh National War Memorial.

Architecturally one of the most attractive civic centres in the UK.  The civic buildings of Cardiff are grouped together in parkland (Cathays Park) adjacent to the Castle in the heart of the city - few cities in the UK offer this combination of functionality and expression of civic pride(made possible by Cardiff's surge to prominence in the nineteenth century, the wealth pouring into the city through King coal, the generosity of the Bute family and vision of the city fathers). 
As a result, it effectively zones this compact city centre into a 'commercial' area (ie shops and offices which lie to the south and south-east of the castle) and 'public' area with gardens, parkland, and public buildings to the north and north-east of the castle.  The portland stone buildings were designed to complement each other in neo classical style with the result that the area has been likened to a 'mini' Washington DC or New Delhi.

The City Hall has a beautiful ornate clock tower complete with Westminster chimes. The main building has a dome topped by a dragon.  You can enter free of charge and find on the first floor a range of marble statues of Welsh heroes, as well as a portrait of the late Diana Princess of Wales who was given the freedom of the city in 1981.
Building of the Civic Centre buildings began early 1900's on Cathays Park dating from 1812 when the 1st Marquess of Bute laid out the land for his newly built mansion.
Cardiff Castle and the main shopping centre is just out of the picture.