Cathays Park judges Cathays Park to be "the finest civic centre in the British Isles". The area falls within the Cathays electoral ward. Cathays Park was formerly part of Cardiff Castle grounds. 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 to erect a
Fairwater, Double Bay company, only for it to collapse (in a major stockmarket downturn) three years later. Lady Mary Fairfax (née Marie Wein, 1922-2017) established the Australian Opera Auditions in 1964, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This was the first of a string of charitable organisations connected with the arts which she joined or initiated. She had lived at Fairwater since 1968, where she conducted a never-ending salon where guests were able to admire the art works of Rodin, Epstein, Dobell and Degas. Among those she entertained were actor Rudolf Nureyev, politician Pierre Trudeau, actor Phyllis Diller, entertainer Liberace,