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New York has never been short on big ideas, but this one was built one block at a time, with balsa wood, cardboard and a lot of patience.
Opening to the public on Thursday, February 12, “He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model” brings a sprawling, handmade replica of New York City to the Museum of the City of New York, just steps from Central Park. The exhibition marks the first time the viral model, famously constructed by Queens-born truck driver Joe Macken, has been presented in New York City itself.
Macken began the project in 2004 and stuck with it for the next 21 years, quietly recreating the five boroughs by hand in his upstate New York home. Built from everyday materials like balsa wood, cardboard and glue, the finished model measures roughly 50 by 27 feet and is made up of more than 300 individual sections. It captures the city’s skyline, neighborhoods and landmarks with obsessive detail, from Midtown towers to outer-borough blocks.
@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
The model surged into public consciousness last summer after Macken posted a video of it on social media. Millions of views later, the lifelong New Yorker found himself an unlikely internet star—and his private passion project suddenly became a public phenomenon.
Now installed in MCNY’s Dinan Miller Gallery, the model sits in conversation with the museum’s core exhibitions, including “New York at Its Core” and “Timescapes.” “Joe’s model reflects the wonder and complexity of this city through the eyes of someone who has lived it, loved it, and painstakingly rebuilt it,” said Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, the museum’s Ronay Menschel director and president.
For Macken, the debut is a long-awaited milestone. “After 21 years of work on my New York City model, I am very excited for the opportunity to display it at Museum of the City of New York,” he said. “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for.”
If you’ve ever wanted to see New York from above—minus the helicopter—this is as close as it gets.