Joe Macken Spent 21 Years Hand-Assembling a Vast Model of New York City

Over the course of two decades, Queens resident Joe Macken meticulously built an entire city from the ground up. In fact, he built New York City—the whole thing—one building, house, and bridge at a time. Now, his expansive scale construction is on view in He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model at the Museum of the City of New York.

Macken began working on the 50-by-27-foot model in 2004, first in Middle Village, Queens, before moving to Clifton Park, New York. It comprises 340 individual sections, each built from everyday materials like cardboard and glue, with many of the buildings constructed of balsa wood and detailed with pencil and paint. He completed the structure in 2025, and it’s now on long-term view at the museum, where visitors can walk around it and are encouraged to use binoculars to find familiar buildings and neighborhoods.

a detail of a cityscape and an expansive, hand-built scale model of New York City — Photo by David Lurvey. All images courtesy of the artist and the Museum of the City of New York, shared with permission

You may also enjoy the “Panorama of the City of New York” at the Queens Museum, which was completed in 1964 and took a team of more than 100 people about three years to complete.

visitors to the Museum of New York look over an expansive handmade model of the city — Photo by Filip Wolak

a detail of an expansive, hand-built scale model of New York City — Photo by David Lurvey

a detail of a steam ship in an expansive, hand-built scale model of New York City — Photo by David Lurvey

A young visitor to the Museum of New York looks over an expansive handmade model of the city — Photo by Filip Wolak

a detail of a steam ship and an expansive, hand-built scale model of New York City — Photo by David Lurvey

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