Months-Long Renovations at 770 Nearly Complete

By COLlive reporter

The “Vaad bedek habayis of 770” committee has begun the final stage of major general renovations of Chabad Headquarters – 770 Eastern Parkway, which included renovations to the yard, the sidewalk and the exterior walls of the Central Chabad Library, which were carried out during the summer.

The renovations are being done as an extensive project of thorough repair to be completed before the arrival of the winter months, the committee said. Many of these areas have been in need of repair for a long time, such as the removal of obstacles on the sidewalk, the entrance, and repairs to the yard and the walls of the building. All this was done in a period of 2 months of work.

The renovations were done in stages, one stage was repairing the outer balcony of the original entrance to the library building, in the front, which was previously broken and dismantled and allowed water to leak through into the building. Another step was repairing the library structure itself – repairing the walls in all the places where there are leaks and the places where the walls are peeling from the inside, waterproofing and coating with a material that prevents water from entering, cleaning the stones well, and filling the stones with concrete where it was missing.

Another step was an extensive repair of the part of the sidewalk in the yard which had many loose stones that were shaky when walked on, and it was also necessary to change concrete of the yard and the drainage system, which has been properly repaired.

Also undergoing repairs was the iconic main entrance door of 770. Another project included the rebuilding of the sidewalk in front of 770, in a large area parallel to 770 and the library buildings (from the Rebbe’s parking lot to the end of the new library building), which includes a special electric system built under the sidewalk for thawing and melting the snow.

The last stage in the months-long project has begun – repairing the red brick walkway to the main entrance of 770. The famed walkway runs from the street to the steps of the front entranceway to the 770 building. Repairs were needed due to damage from salt used to melt snow and ice each winter, over time they had completely destroyed the stones. The concrete around the bricks had begun to fell apart, and every few months another part of the bricks had to be repaired, as well as had to be reinforced every two to four years.

Another major problem is that each winter, snow and ice were the cause of several injuries, in which people slipped and fell, requiring medical treatment. To prevent that from happening in the future, the renovations included a special automatic electrical system for defrosting and melting the snow.

The original iconic red bricks, which were installed in 1977, are being preserved as much as possible. The stones are being cleaned, preserved and returned to the walkway reinforced by strong concrete underneath and some other techniques to correct the problems that existed. The walkway as well is being installed with a heating and snow thawing system underneath it, from the sidewalk outside to the door of 770 itself, including the path and entrance stairs to 770.

All the work is being coordinated by “Vaad bedek habayis of 770” under the direction of Rabbi Chaim Baruch Halberstam and carried out by Rabbi Yossi Rabkin, assisted by his son-in-law Rabbi Nosson Losh with the approval and coordination of Agudas Chassidei Chabad.