New York City's bustling streets hide some truly fascinating secrets: buildings that aren't what they seem! From the massive, windowless 33 Thomas Street, designed to withstand a nuclear blast and believed to be an NSA surveillance hub, to a charming Brooklyn Heights townhouse that's actually a subway ventilation shaft, the city is full of architectural deceptions. You'll also discover a faux residential complex in the Bronx concealing an electrical substation, the iconic Flatiron Building's surprisingly thin appearance, and a beautifully preserved historic laboratory on Roosevelt Island that now houses subway infrastructure. While some of these "fake" facades blend seamlessly, others, like the unfinished-looking MTA building in Greenwich Village, sparked local controversy, revealing the surprising stories behind New York's hidden structures.

Few cityscapes are more recognizable, or more beloved, than New York City. But something even many lifelong New Yorkers don’t know is that there is a full to-scale model of the entire city right in their own backyard. It is the largest and most detailed model of any city ever built, requiring over a hundred full-time workers and years of painstaking effort.

Not only is it accurate down to the last building and street corner, but it is also a time machine. The model was last updated in 1992, offering a precise window into the past. It is nostalgic for longtime residents, surprising in both its differences and its similarities to present day, and full of ghostly revelations about the city, and the world, that once was.

Tonight on Looking 4, we’ll shrink down to one twelve-hundredth of our normal size and take a walk through the streets of New York in the early 90s, uncovering the remarkable work behind the world’s largest architectural model and gaining a unique insight into what life for New Yorkers was like in 1992.

People called it brownstone. It came from the quarries of Portland, Connecticut, carried by ships down the Connecticut River, then across the harbor to Manhattan. Builders saw it as modern, elegant, and cheaper than marble. Its soft texture made it easy to carve. Its color gave homes a steady, grounded beauty.