EXCLUSIVE: Gracie Mansion needs millions in repairs, needs a new roof

UPPER EAST SIDE (WABC) -- The roof at Gracie Mansion is huge at almost 10,000 square feet.

Closer up you can see that part of the roof is missing.

When it rains water pools and the chimneys are literally crumbling.

For this old house that was built in 1799, water can be a killer.

"Gracie Mansion is located on the water and so during winters, particularly during like last winter when we had the polar vortex, many times, the house just takes a beating," said Paul Mellon, of the NYC Historic House Trust.

Paul Mellon showed Eyewitness News what's been a big worry at Gracie Mansion for 10 years now.

The roof is so bad that inside the ceiling has huge cracks.

There are persistent water bubbles in the paint.

In the sound room, above the equipment, there's more damage.

On Thanksgiving weekend, the mayor and his family came back to Gracie Mansion and they came to the blue room, and they saw the leaking was so bad that water was pouring from the ceiling; it was actually running through the chandelier and the table and floor.

He realized something had to be done.

In 2002, Mayor Bloomberg spent millions of his own money fixing up Gracie Mansion.

He renovated the foyer and the library.

Nobody wants all that hard work and money to get washed away.

But why wasn't the roof fixed first?

"My understanding is they did examine the roof back in 2002 and it was felt it still had some life in it and so the decision was made at that time to just continue to patch and repair it when need be," Mellon said.

But the patching has gone on long enough. The price tag to fix everything including the chimneys and rotting railing is possibly up to $3-million. Our mayor isn't a billionaire now, so taxpayers will have to pay to help save the city's most famous home.