Repairs to Sea Cliff Village Hall begin

Work is under way to plug the leaks that have plagued Sea Cliff’s historic Village Hall.

The building that houses the village offices and library was built in 1914 as a Methodist church. The village bought the building in 1968.

“The mortar joints have shrunk, the slate roof needed repairs and a lot of the flashing had deteriorated,” Village Administrator John Mirando said.

Previous repairs were “stopgap efforts and nothing seemed to work,” he said. But now, with $399,000 in county and state grants and $52,000 in village funds, the landmarked structure is on its way to being completely weather-proofed
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A Queens roofing contractor, Baschnagel Brothers Inc., began work at the end of last month and is expected to be done by the end of June. “This will solve 90 percent of the leaks,” Mirando said, and will allow repairs of the water-damaged interior plaster and windows to begin.

Mirando said foundation work is still needed to make the building watertight. That is expected to be done in a year or so, when funding becomes available.