Cardiff may have been a Victorian ‘boom town’, but in 1905 it became Wales’s first City. An impressive new Civic Centre in grandiose Baroque style had been conceived, in dazzling white Portland stone, to house the City Hall, Law Courts, University buildings, National Museum and ultimately, a new Welsh Parliament building. 

Along with Banks, theatres and other commercial buildings, the lecture tells the story of the City’s new confidence and prosperity.  Even the more modest houses and shops used by its more ordinary citizens displayed an attention to detail and craftsmanship that is appreciated now more than ever before.  This lecture includes the many facets of the city’s Edwardian built heritage.