One of New York's treasures, and for many book lovers a hidden treasure, is Urban Center Books. Situated in the 1884 Vuillard Houses, designed by McKim Mead & White, this high-ceilinged room is packed to the rafters with books and magazines on architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, interior design and graphic design.

The selection is breathtaking. You will find monographs on luminaries like Frank Gehry and Jean Prouve. Classic titles such as Walter Benjamin: Illuminations are interspersed with periodicals from around the globe, including items you won't find anywhere else. The latest issue of Future, a Spanish magazine that covers international architectural competitions is prominently displayed near ExperimentAAtions, an overview of student work from London's Architectural Association. Japanese magazines figure prominently, with current issues of GA, A+U and Japan Architect on hand.

Urban Center Books. Photos: Peggy Roalf

A wall of books on building types is a model of typology. In the Transportation section I reached for The Architecture of Parking by Simon Henley. The book fell open to a feature on Parc des Celestins in Lyon, France. The futuristic multi-story underground garage is described by Henley as, "an anti-Babel, frightening at the same time pleasurable....this car park is a total distraction from the mundane act of parking a car." This is definitely the place to find the ultimate treatments of the most genre-specific design subjects and their sub-specialties.

In addition to books on architecture and urbanism are many items that would make unusal gifts. Among the DVDs of design-centric films is Jacques Tati's Play Time. In this 1967 flick, modernist glass office and apartment buildings, designed and built specifically for the film, steal the leading roles from the actors.

There are books on the subject of design for the movies, including The Wrong House, a study of Alfred Hitchcock's oppressive interiors by Steven Jacobs. A choice selection of books on New York City history is complemented by an appealing array of guide books, and photography books that celebrate urbanism and a sense of place. Among them are Helen Levitt: Here and There; Andre Kertesz: Paris; and Jonas Bendiksen: The Places We Live.

Urban Center Books, 457 Madison Avenue at 51^st Street, NYC. 212.935.3960, x274, 267. Soon to open in the lobby is Unpacking My Library, a video exhibit of the libraries of twelve top New York architects including Elizabeth Diller and Ric Scofidio, Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, Toshiko Mori, Michael Sorkin, Robert A.M. Stern, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Urban Center Books is owned by the Municipal Art Society of New York, which offers a variety of public programs on urban planning, design and preservation.

To revisit last year's Holiday Book Reports, please check the DART archive for features about New York's best independent booksellers specializing in the visual arts.