At the Museum of the City of New York, Joe Macken’s model occupies roughly 50 by 27 feet, assembled from more than 340 sections of balsa wood, cardboard and glue. He began in 2004 with the building now known as 30 Rockefeller Plaza and kept going. The museum supplies binoculars for inspecting the result. He Built This City
This is a catch-up discovery, and an especially appealing one if you enjoy both the city and the act of making things. The scale allows two kinds of looking: the whole urban mass, then the tiny decisions needed to make an individual building recognizable. A model inevitably edits its subject; spending that long on one also becomes a record of attention.
It looks like a good family museum stop with plenty to notice without needing to read every wall label. 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street; weekends 10 a.m.–6 p.m. NYC residents can pay what they can with ID, and visitors 18 and under enter free. Standard adult admission is $23. Visit details