Given that architectural standards aren’t very high in Philadelphia nowadays, and developers are pretty much free to plunk down any old metal box, the Art Commission can seem like a quaint throwback to a more genteel time. Created by the 1951 Home Rule Charter, the Art Commission exists exclusively to protect the city from visual pollution. Sadly, it doesn’t have jurisdiction over all 142 square miles, just the Parkway, city-owned properties, and commercial signs that project over the sidewalks. But unlike the Planning Commission or Civic Design Review, which are merely advisory, the Art Commission’s word is law.