When a visitor walks into the Dinan Miller Gallery at The Museum of the City of New York, it’s hard to miss.

It being the massive model of New York City. 

They are all there: the buildings, the houses, the bridges. 

What You Need To Know

Joe Macken’s model of New York City is on display at The Museum of the City of New York starting Feb. 12

He handcrafted it in the basement of his home outside of Albany 

Macken is a Queens native who grew up admiring the Manhattan skyline 

It was built by hand by Middle Village, Queens native Joe Macken. 

“I can’t stop looking at it, and I’m the one who built it,” said Macken, who is seeing the model all in one big piece for only the second time. 

He has built it over more than 21 years in his basement in Clifton Park, near Albany.

Macken’s model, all 50 by 27 feet of it, is on display at The Museum of the City of New York, and exhibition called “He Built This City.”

It took 14 hours to install it. 

“Thank goodness for Joe and his ingenuity and creativity, it was actually one of the easiest installs any of us have ever worked on because Joe is so self-sufficient and so comfortable handling it,” said Elisabeth Sherman, the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe chief curator and deputy director at the museum. 

Macken began the model in 2004 with 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and just kept going from there. The pieces are carved from balsa wood and glued onto foam boards, all numbered for assembly. There are more than 320 sections in all.

So how did Macken get them to the museum? In a rental truck, driving very slowly. 

“You can stack these boards on top of each other, and I stack them like this high, because all the outer boroughs are flat. And they are all balsa wood and styrofoam. So I just pile them on top of each other, and all the downtown buildings you put on top,” Macken said of the taller structures of the model. 

Macken said he isn’t done yet. The model will grow to include more of the New York metropolitan area. 

“In 10 years, it’s going to be twice this size because I’m doing all of Westchester. I’m going to do New Jersey out to the Meadowlands, Newark Airport. I’m going to do parts of Connecticut,” Macken said. 

For now, visitors can enjoy the five boroughs and a sliver of Jersey.

To plan a visit, timed tickets are recommended. Head to the website for more information.