If the City Hall in Jersey City doesn’t make you want to do home improvement projects, then nothing will. Well, that’s certainly a sentence we never thought we would write. But it’s totally true — because while the coronavirus pandemic was shutting down local businesses, keeping residents sheltering in place indoors, and forcing restaurants and eateries to transition to contactless options only, Jersey City began focusing on renovation projects that would otherwise disturb residents if they were done during “normal life.”
In a now-viral tweet, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop explained, “We used COVID-19 shutdown to do projects that would’ve been inconvenient for residents regularly {street paving, park renovations, etc}. One project was ripping up the 1960s vinyl floor at City Hall. We thought we’d find garbage, but instead we found the original from 100 years ago {sic}.” The details on the gorgeous discovery.
{Photo credit: Twitter}
The New Digs
We used Covid-19 shutdown to do projects that would’ve been inconvenient for residents regularly (street paving, park renovations etc). One project was ripping up the 1960s vinyl floor at city hall. We thought we’d find garbage but instead we found the original from 100 yrs ago pic.twitter.com/tZdASc8JOb
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) May 3, 2020
Move over, HGTV! We don’t need your DIY home improvement channel when we’ve got City Hall!
City Hall’s surprise renovation didn’t just impress the people of Jersey City. In fact, Mayor Fulop’s tweet gained national attention and went viral when it was picked up by Instagram meme account @kalesalad.
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“While we are here why did every house cover hardwood floors with carpet in the 1960s 🥗 @stevenfulopjc,” the account @kalesalad wrote in the caption.
The reaction to the home improvement project has been overwhelmingly positive. One Instagram user wrote, “Love when this happens. Like when a mosaic from a renowned artist was found in an NYC building entry during a reno.”
Another chimed in, “The old floor looks really pretty actually they should try and preserve that design!”
All in all, the picture posted to @kalesalad garnered more than 330,000 likes and Mayor Fulop’s original tweet received 2.8K comments, 15.6K retweets, and 146.7K likes.
Other Renovation Updates
After the positive reaction to Fulop’s original tweet about the renovation, he began providing updates on other areas of the floor that have since been pulled up.
This is the latest from our restoration to the original city hall that we started during the Covid-19 shutdown, I shared some of the earlier mid 1800s original tile we found hidden in hallways underneath the 1960s vinyl tile. Here’s the next section we found of historical tile pic.twitter.com/nWccpNYdOc
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) May 6, 2020
“This is the latest from our restoration to the original City Hall that we started during the COVID-19 shutdown,” Fulop wrote in a follow-up tweet. “I shared some of the earlier mid-1800s original tile we found hidden in the hallways underneath the 1960s vinyl tile. Here’s the next section we found of historical tile.”
That’s not the only renovation project Jersey City has in mind. According to the Instagram of Brian David Platt, Business Administrator and City Manager of JC, hundreds of new trees are to be planted across the city within the coming weeks.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5AS0sDSWF/
“The first of hundreds of new trees being planted across all of Jersey City this year,” Platt captioned the photo. “These new cherry trees on Newark Avenue will have gorgeous bright pink spring blossoms.”
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Can’t wait to Instagram that lineup of trees down Newark!
We have to say, here at Hoboken Girl, it’s always a good day when we can focus on the positive, happy, and upbeat stories that come out of our neighboring cities. And that goes especially for these uncertain times during the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, excuse us while we contact the landlord to see if we can also rip up our 1960s vinyl tile!
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