Birds-eye view of the Forest Hills Gardens development, from the top of the nine-story Forest Hills Inn tower, June 1, 1916. The street at center is Greenway Terrace. The plan of Forest Hills Gardens was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the son of the famed landscape architect and park designer whose many projects include Central Park and Prospect Park.

Forest Hills Gardens, Greenway Terrace entrance and bridge, July 24, 1927. Forest Hills Gardens was designed as a planned community for New Yorkers of all social classes — a sort of American response to the English garden communities — but developed into a wealthy enclave, due to the high cost of construction and the use of restrictive covenants that, while they did not explicitly prohibit minority ownership, discouraged working class and minority residents in practice. Architect Grosvenor Atterbury’s neo-Tudor, neo-Georgian, and Arts and Crafts designs are protected by a strict design covenant adopted by the governing Forest Hills Gardens Corporation in 1922, which preserves the development’s distinctive architectural character.

The Public Design Commission (PDC) was established as the Municipal Art Commission by the New York City Charter in 1898 (following the consolidation of NYC). The Commission was tasked with the oversight of all public artworks and monuments, but its purview quickly expanded to include public structures and open spaces. Renamed in 2008, the PDC reviews the design of permanent works of architecture, landscape architecture, and art proposed on or over City-owned property. Projects are submitted by City agencies and include the construction, renovation, or restoration of buildings; the creation or rehabilitation of parks, playgrounds, and plazas; installation of lighting and other streetscape elements; signage; and the installation and conservation of artwork, including monuments and memorials. The Commission also acts as caretaker and curator of the City’s public art collection, which is located throughout the city’s public buildings and open spaces, and maintains an extensive archive documenting the history of New York City's public works. The PDC Archive maintains a collection of projects reviewed by the Commission since 1902, documenting more than 7,000 sites throughout New York City and providing a unique view into the history of the City’s public works. The designs that have been reviewed by the PDC throughout its over 120-year history are representative of the policies and focus of Mayoral administrations while simultaneously following historical trends in public design, public health, and artistic and cultural movements in the city and country at large. The following examples illustrate the breadth of projects under the PDC's purview, from large scale developments to streetscape fixtures that often go unnoticed. For an in-depth history of the Public Design Commission, see Michele H. Bogart’s book, "The Politics of Urban Beauty."