John Q. Aymar Building (New York City, New York)

 Art Deco (architecture), historical layer / disappeared object, commercial building

2-story Art-Deco commercial building completed in 1937 as a commercial taxpayer structure for estate of John Q. Aymar, who had purchased this lot way back in 1839. Designed by Cross & Cross, it is clad in limestone with a grey granite water table.

Due to the Great Depression, it took until 1937 for the first store to open in the building. A bowling alley then opened on the 2nd floor, with a five-and-dime store and other small family retail business on the ground floor. Later in the 20th century, offices were located on the 2nd floor.

The ground floor has been extensively remodeled, with the original picture windows replaced by newer, wide plate-glass windows. To the south of the centered main entrance are five bays, the 3rd one recessed with a set of glass double-doors. The piers between the bays are painted white, and light-grey stone cladding extends right up to near the base of the 2nd-floor windows. The north end of the west facade has four bays (of varying width) with glass double-doors in the northern one. There is no window bay at the far north end. The main entrance has metal-framed glass double-doors next to a window, in a steel surround.

The 2nd floor has a slightly projecting center section that also rises up slightly higher at the roof line. The center section has five 3-over-4 windows below carved letters reading "JOHN Q AYMAR BUILDING". The two ends of the center section extend slightly higher at the roof line, with small geometric forms. To the north and south, the 2nd floor has four bays of windows in tripartite configuration. The north and south ends of the roof line (which has a metal coping) have curved finial-like extensions with geometric forms.

The north facade on 24th Street has a few metal service doors at the ground floor, while the 2nd floor has four bays of tripartite windows, and single-window end bays. The south facade on 23rd Street has the same 2nd floor, but the ground floor has two modern commercial storefront sections. The western one is wider, with four bays of plate-glass show-windows. The eastern one is separated by a black metal service door, and has a more traditional storefront arrangement, with windows flanked by glass doors.

The 2nd floor is now occupied by New York Sports Clubs, and the ground floor by a CVS pharmacy. In 2017, the building was finally sold by the John Q. Aymar Corporation trust where it will be demolished for a new residential tower. It was demolished in 2022.