Trucker's viral scale model of every NYC building to get official showing

Upstate trucker Joe Macken’s TikTok-famous scale model of New York City will be displayed at the Museum of the City of New York this winter, Gothamist can exclusively report.

“He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model” will open to the public early next year, on Feb. 12, 2026.

“Presented publicly for the first time in New York City—the very subject of the work—Macken’s model stands as a deeply personal yet universally resonant tribute to the city,” reads a press release.

Macken, 63, began building the monumental 50-by-30-foot model in his Clifton Park, NY basement back in 2004. Over the subsequent two decades, Macken – who has neither formal carpentry nor engineering training – used only balsa wood, Elmer’s glue, and Styrofoam to create miniature versions of every building in the five boro