Viral model of NYC on display at the Museum of the City of New York

A detailed scale model of New York City, titled “He Built This City,” has been on display at the Museum of the City of New York since February. Painstakingly created by truck driver Joe Macken, who grew up in Queens, the model encompasses all five New York City boroughs, along with parts of New Jersey and Nassau County.

“Every person who lives in New York, briefly or for decades, walks around with their own mental map of the city," said Elisabeth Sherman, deputy director of the museum. “Joe made his own mental map physical … faithful to the real geography of the city, yet imbued with personal touches that make it uniquely his own,” said Sherman.

Nearly 75,000 visitors have taken in the exhibit, which at 50 by 27 feet pretty much fills the museum’s Dinan Miller Gallery. Guests are offered binoculars so they can zero in on a building or a neighborhood, all painstakingly constructed by hand out of balsam wood, acrylic paint and glue — a lot of glue.

In a viral TikTok video (10 million views and counting), Macken, 63, said he based his project on his own childhood memories, growing up in Middle Village, where in the winter he could see the Manhattan skyline. That explains why the model has both the Twin Towers and the World Trade Center. “They’re my favorite buildings,” he said, explaining in a phone interview that he kept both in “just for me.” He remembers watching the buildings during construction from his bedroom window. “I’d look at the World Trade Center every day,” he said.

Macken’s inspiration came in part from the  Panorama of New York City  built for the 1964 World Fair, which he saw at the Queens Museum while in grade school.

He started his project in 2004 with the RCA Building (now Comcast) in Rockefeller Center, a building he said he always found more interesting than that famous Christmas tree. It was so much fun, he said, he just kept going. He created around a million pieces, from landmark buildings and bridges to basic brownstones. It took him 22 years to finish — not that this project will ever be finished, he talks about building out parts of Westchester and Long Island out to Plainview, where he lived for 20 years after he graduated from high school.

Macken is hopeful that visitors will find the installation meaningful. “I want them to come out and look at it and just to know that one person built this whole city,” said Macken in a video produced by the museum. “I want them to enjoy it. It’s another way of seeing New York that you can’t see walking through the streets.”

The Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave., New York, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday). Admission costs $23, $18 for seniors 65 and over, and $14 for students. Visitors under 18 are admitted for free. The museum can be reached at 212-534-1672 or mcny.org.