Joe Macken's fascination with buildings and landscapes started as a child after visiting the Panorama of the City of New York, the massive model that debuted at the 1965 New York World's Fair.

“Now, you walk around it and get an aerial view. Back then, you sat on a train or a tram, and you went around it,” Macken recalled. “And I just remember just going around it and thinking, ‘Wow, this ...

As a child, Joe Macken vowed to build a scale-model replica of New York City. Decades later, it's being displayed in an Upper East Side museum. Joe Macken in a corner of the laundry room where he ...