Central Park. Coney Island. Yankee Stadium. Times Square. A thorough sightseeing trip around New York City might take you more than a week, but you can experience the entire metropolis in miniature in just a couple of hours.
Queens-born truck driver Joe Macken, 63, is on the road four days a week, yet he still found time over the last two decades to meticulously produce “one of the most ambitious handmade representations of New York City ever created.” That’s according to the Museum of the City of New York, where Macken’s model is on display through at least September.
The model is 50 feet by 27 feet, which, for context, is about the size of a small dance studio and bigger than a standard pickleball court. Representing all five boroughs as well as the New Jersey coast, it features nearly 1 million buildings (seriously), along with bridges, parks, streets and other landmarks, all made from basic materials like cardboard and balsa wood.
@balsastyrofoam300 Miniature model of New York City, carved out of balsa wood,21 years to build, almost 1 million buildings, 50ft, long,30ft. wide.
♬ original sound – minninycity04
Macken started his project in 2004 after moving with his family from the city he grew up in to a small town upstate. The idea had been germinating for much longer, though — ever since he laid eyes on a model of New York during an elementary school field trip to the Queens Museum.
“I remember I was sitting — you know, you actually sat down and you went around it on this little train or whatever — and I remember talking to the girl that was sitting next to me, one of my classmates, and I said, ‘I’m gonna build one of these myself one day,’” he recounted in a phone conversation with Nice News last month. “It took long enough, but I definitely kept my promise.”
He started with a replica of the iconic 30 Rock skyscraper at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan before moving on to the rest of the borough. Setting up shop in his basement, he initially worked from books, paper maps, and printed photographs but soon transitioned to using Google Earth. The tech helped him streamline the process, as did his increasing skill. “I got better at it, so I was able to build it faster,” Macken said. “Manhattan took me 10 years to build, and the other four boroughs took me 10 years to build.”
Twenty-one years and around $20,000 in supplies later, he was finished.
At the encouragement of his daughter, Macken began sharing photos and videos of his model on TikTok in 2025, and he quickly went viral. His account now has over 3.3 million likes and nearly 283,000 followers.
“How was this not displayed somewhere?” one commenter demanded on an early post (we’ll spare you the all-caps formatting). “A museum, any city council in New York. The beginning of Central Park. People would definitely enjoy this.”
It’s true. Unable to put together the entire model at his home, Macken first displayed it in a barn on the Cobleskill Fairgrounds last August after a restaurant owner on Macken’s delivery route offered him the space — and the reactions were invariable. “People were going crazy,” he shared, noting: “Everyone just says the same thing. It’s either amazing, spectacular, awesome.”
@balsastyrofoam300 Full Entire Model of NYC with all 5 Boros included.
♬ original sound – minninycity04
The museum exhibit, titled “He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model,” opened in February after curators caught wind of the social media hubbub. Visitors are encouraged to use provided binoculars to view the model’s remarkable detail, and many NYC residents are delighted to find their own blocks.
Macken said he wants to bring the model around the country so that people who can’t make it to New York can get a little taste of the city. And he’s already at work on his next piece, a replica of Minneapolis. He’s never been to the Midwest metropolis but explained: “Mary Tyler Moore was my favorite show when I was a kid,” referencing the iconic ’70s sitcom filmed there.
For all the ambition behind his New York Model, there’s no lofty artist’s statement accompanying it, and Macken isn’t intent on conveying a specific message through his work. “I just want them to enjoy it,” he said of viewers, adding, “Just looking at the expressions on people’s faces, that’s my favorite part of the whole thing.”
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