 Plans for restoring the courthouse had been proposed even before it fell into disuse . In 1961 , the architectural modelist Theodore Conrad proposed converting the building into a new city hall for Jersey City . The plan would have created a mall in front of the building and surrounded it with additional city buildings and a museum . Another proposal would house a branch of the New Jersey State Museum in the building . Conrad led a citizens group that lobbied for the preservation of the building , and got it listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The award @-@ winning restoration project resulted in the courthouse being reopened in 1985 for the use of the civil courts and other county offices . 
