The Big Duck is a ferrocement building in the shape of a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

located in Flanders, New York, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

. It was originally built in 1931 by duck farmer Martin Maurer in nearby Riverhead, and used as a shop to sell

s and duck eggs. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1997. It is a principal building on the Big Duck Ranch, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Description

The Big Duck is a huge duck-shaped building. The building measures wide, long and tall to the top of the head. The duck's eyes are made from

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

tail lights and the interior floor space is confined to by . The wood frame, wire mesh/concrete surface building was designed in the shape of a Pekin duck in order to house a retail poultry store. ''See also:''

History

Owner Martin Maurer had The Big Duck building constructed in 1930 and 1931 on a prime spot on the busy Main Street in the town of Riverhead on

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The builders Smith and Yeager completed the concrete finish work on the Big Duck which was featured in Atlas Cement's 1931 calendar. Merlin Yeager noted that most of the duck is actually finished with Portland Cement, but they ran out and finished with Atlas Cement. The Big Duck was also featured in Popular Mechanics magazine. In 1937, Martin Maurer moved the building four miles (6 km) southeast to Flanders, where it occupied a prominent location near the duck barns and marshes of Maurer's new duck ranch. The entire area, including Flanders and Riverhead, was the center of Long Island's well-known duck-farming industry. By 1939 there were about 90 duck farms in Suffolk County.Determining the Facts Reading 1: Representational Architecture
''Roadside Attractions'', National Park Service. The Big Duck's unusual building and prime location helped garner much customer attention until it closed in 1984. In 1988, Suffolk County acquired The Big Duck and moved it to Route 24 on the edge of Sears-Bellows Pond County Park between Flanders and Hampton Bays on the eastern part of Long Island. The building houses a gift shop operated by the Friends for Long Island Heritage. In 2004, there was a movement to move the duck to Long Island MacArthur Airport, but the duck was returned to its Flanders location on October 6, 2007. Suffolk County continues to own it, maintains its interior and pays for staffing; Southampton Town maintains the exterior. The original duck farm was purchased by the town in 2006. It currently serves as a gift shop selling memorabilia. Christie Brinkley lent her voice to a tape greeting for visitors. The Big Duck was used as a setting in a sketch from the children's TV series '' Between the Lions'' called Moby Duck, a parody of Moby Dick. In this sketch, the duck was named Moby, and two sailors were enlisted on a voyage to search for the duck, although it was right behind them the whole time. As of November 2017, for the past 29 years at Christmas time, the Big Duck has been lit up with Christmas lights placed along a giant wreath which hangs around the duck's neck. Local residents hold a Christmas lighting ceremony each year when the lights are turned on, and the ceremony is covered by local news.

Legacy

Buildings such as this are classified as novelty architecture. However, in architecture the term "duck" is used more specifically to describe buildings that are in the shape of an everyday object to which they relate. According to the Long Island

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'', "The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a 'duck'."

Edward Tufte Edward Rolf Tufte (; born March 14, 1942), sometimes known as "ET",. is an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design ...

's ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'' uses the term "duck", explicitly named after this building, to describe irrelevant decorative elements in

information design Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters an efficient and effective understanding of the information. The term has come to be used for a specific area of graphic design related to displaying information ...

. The Big Duck was the target of widespread criticism during the 1960s and early 1970s but the building did have its architectural defenders.

Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...

and

Denise Scott Brown Denise Scott Brown (née Lakofski; born October 3, 1931) is an American architect, planner, writer, educator, and principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates in Philadelphia. Scott Brown and her husband and partner, Robert Venturi, ...

said that since the building combined functional and symbolic aspects of architecture it was noteworthy. It was Venturi and Scott Brown who coined the term "duck" to describe a building in which the architecture is subordinate to the overall symbolic form. However, they preferred the "decorated shed" as a model. On November 13, 2006, radio station

WBLI WBLI (106.1 FM) is a commercial radio station owned by Cox Radio and licensed to Patchogue, New York. It airs a top 40 (CHR) radio format. The station mainly serves Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. Its studios and offices are located o ...

rated the Flanders Duck first amongst the 7 wonders of Long Island,A.J. Carter
Inside Stories
''Newsday'', November 20, 2006 just ahead of the Commack Motor Inn.

References

External links

Official Site

Big Duck Photo Gallery
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Novelty buildings in New York (state) Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Southampton (town), New York Roadside attractions in New York (state) Tourist attractions on Long Island Commercial buildings completed in 1931 Tourist attractions in Suffolk County, New York 1931 establishments in New York (state) Ducks in popular culture