{"id":229029,"date":"2026-05-12T20:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/229029\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:41:08","slug":"meet-the-new-york-truck-driver-who-spent-22-years-building-a-model-of-the-city-he-loves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/229029\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the New York truck driver who spent 22 years building a model of the city he loves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Macken\u2019s stunning new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York<\/a> called \u201cHe Built This City\u201d depicts more than 890,000 structures \u2014 parks, businesses, apartments and homes, factories, and more \u2014 in the city\u2019s five boroughs. Each structure is built to scale, hand-sculpted out of balsa wood and delicately painted, creating a breathtaking aerial view of one of the world\u2019s most recognizable cities.<\/p>\n

\nThis alone would be a feat for any architect or artist, except that Macken is neither. The 63-year-old Queens native is a truck driver whose fascination with buildings and landscapes started as a child after visiting the Panorama of the City of New York<\/a>, the massive model that debuted at the 1964 New York World\u2019s Fair.<\/p>\n

\nHis own model was created decades later, largely at night, in his basement, in sections, after long shifts driving his truck and evenings spent with his wife and children. It was only at the insistence of his daughter that the finished project saw the light of day, after she convinced him to post photos of completed sections on social media.<\/p>\n

\"Exhibit<\/p>\n

Exhibit goers look over “He Built This City” by Joe Macken. (Karyn Miller-Medzon\/Here & Now) <\/p>\n

His work caught the eye of artists, architects and, eventually, museum curators, who recognized that this unassuming delivery man had created something that would wow the general public as well. The entire project is on display through December at the Museum of the City of New York.<\/p>\n

Here & Now\u2018s Robin Young joined Macken there to talk about the project and his passion for the city he grew up in.<\/p>\n

6 questions with Joe Macken<\/p>\n

You worked full time. When did you have time to make the model, and where in the world did you store it?<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI was keeping this in a storage unit. I mean, piles, pieces all over the place. Like I would work all day, I\u2019d come home. I would sit down, watch TV with my family, or do whatever. And then I\u2019d go downstairs. I would just work on it sometimes for hours.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSometimes I\u2019m dead tired, and I got to get up at [4 a.m.] the next morning. And one day I finished it, and my daughter found out that I finished it. She was like, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just put it on social media?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah, OK.\u2019 So, I put it on social media, just one little piece. And it just exploded. It got like 10 million views, and the museum found out, and I was able to set it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A detailed view of the buildings on Joe Macken’s model. (Joe Macken\/Museum of the City of New York)<\/p>\n

Did you include every house and building in every borough?<\/p>\n

\n\u201cYes. From Google Maps and Google satellites, about 890,000 total little houses and buildings\u2026 Right now, you\u2019re looking at it from about 5,000 feet off the ground, flying into Kennedy Airport\u2026 And everything is to scale. Yeah, every inch is 160 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

When did you start noticing buildings and skylines? We understand you used to climb out onto your parents\u2019 roof in Queens?<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI did. I used to go into my parents\u2019 closet. They used to have a ladder against the wall. And I used to push up the trap door that led to the roof. And I used to go up there and just hang out with my friends, look at the city. You can see the skyline from there. I used to walk all the way down to the end and all the way back. People must have heard me walking on their roofs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People look at the model while holding binoculars. (Filip Wolak\/Museum of the City of New York)<\/p>\n

How are people reacting to your model, now that it\u2019s on display at the Museum of the City of New York?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to art architects, and they can\u2019t believe this. They never seen anything like this before. My wife\u2019s sister was a nurse, and she had all these tongue depressors in a garage. I always was interested in building stuff, and I never had the material to do it.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo, I took all the sticks and I made a bridge out of it. It was a hybrid of the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg [bridges]. It was beautiful. It got destroyed on a moving truck. I was really upset. So, I said, \u2018You know what? I\u2019m not going to get upset. I\u2019ll build something better.\u2019 So, I went to the hobby store and I bought balsa wood and I started building Manhattan. And I never stopped. I never stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

You also had some inspiration from The Panorama of the City of New York, displayed first at the New York World\u2019s Fair in 1964. Tell us about that visit.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe got in this little vehicle. It was almost like a tram or like a little train. And we went around the perimeter of this model, and we saw the Empire State Building, all the parks. And I was just like, my eyes were just plastered on this. It was the most amazing thing I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI remember I talked to my classmate who was sitting next to me. I said, \u2018I\u2019m going to build one of these myself one day.\u2019 When I was that young, I was about seven. And I kept my promise. Yeah. It took 100 people three years to build [The Panorama of the City of New York.] And it took one person 22 years to build [my model].\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your next project?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing Westchester County, Long Island, New Jersey. It\u2019s 50 [feet long] now. It\u2019s going to be 90 feet long and it\u2019s going to be 50 feet wide. Right now, it\u2019s 30 feet wide. It\u2019s going to have about 1.7 million total buildings when I\u2019m done. I love everything about it. If something is difficult, I just, I look forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This interview was edited for clarity.<\/p>\n

\n____<\/p>\n

Karyn Miller-Medzon<\/a> and Robin Young<\/a> produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt<\/a>. Miller-Medzon also produced it for the web.<\/p>\n

\nThis article was originally published on WBUR.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

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