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Big Duck

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Coordinates: 40°54′25.32″N 72°37′21.18″W / 40.9070333°N 72.6225500°W / 40.9070333; -72.6225500
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"Long Island Duck" redirects here. For the breed of duck known as "Long Island duck", see American Pekin. For the baseball team, see Long Island Ducks.
The Big Duck
The Big Duck was constructed in the 1930s to help its owner's duck farming business.
Map
Interactive map showing the Big Duck’s location
LocationFlanders, New York, Suffolk County, New York, USA
Coordinates40°54′25.32″N 72°37′21.18″W / 40.9070333°N 72.6225500°W / 40.9070333; -72.6225500
Built1930-31
Architectural styleNovelty architecture
Websitebigduck.org
NRHP reference No.97000164
Added to NRHPApril 28, 1997[1]

The Big Duck is a ferrocement building in the shape of a duck located in Flanders, New York, on Long Island. It was originally built in 1931 by duck farmer Martin Maurer in nearby Riverhead, and used as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. It is a principal building on the Big Duck Ranch, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.[1]

Description[edit]

The Big Duck is a duck-shaped building 18 by 30 feet (5.5 by 9.1 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m) tall to the top of the head. The inside floor space of the building is considerably smaller: 11 by 15 feet (3.4 by 4.6 m).[2] The wood frame, wire mesh/concrete surface building was designed in 1931 in the shape of a Pekin duck by Martin Maurer who owned a duck farm in Riverhead intending to use it as store.[3][4]

The duck's eyes were originally made from Ford Model T tail lights (which glowed red at night)[2] which were later removed and stored at the Suffolk County historical archives.[4] As of 2013, the original lights had been reinstalled.[5]

History[edit]

Owner Martin Maurer had The Big Duck building constructed in 1931 on a prime spot on the busy Main Street in the town of Riverhead on Long Island, New York. 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.[citation needed]

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.[6]

Signage on NY 24 before the Duck

The Big Duck's unusual building and prime location helped garner much customer attention until it closed in 1984. In 1988, Suffolk County Department of Parks and Recreation 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.[6] In 2004, there was a movement to move the duck to Long Island MacArthur Airport,[7] but the duck was returned to its Flanders location on October 6, 2007.[4] Suffolk County continues to own it, maintains its interior and pays for staffing; Southampton Town maintains the exterior. The original 27-acre (110,000 m2) duck farm was purchased by the town in 2006.[8][9] It currently serves as a gift shop selling memorabilia.[10]

Christie Brinkley lent her voice to a tape greeting for visitors.[3]

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.[11]

The building was the site of a burglary on November 7, 2010, at which point it was being operated as a museum and gift shop by the Suffolk Country Parks Department. The police responded to the burglar alarm at 1:12 AM. It appeared that somebody had tried to kick in the rear door, but nothing was missing from the building and the shop was back in business the next day after the lock on the door was replaced.[12]

Legacy[edit]

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 Newsday, "The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a 'duck'."[13] Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information uses the term "duck", explicitly named after this building, to describe irrelevant decorative elements in information design. 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 and Denise Scott Brown 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.[6] However, they preferred the "decorated shed" as a model.[14][15] On November 13, 2006, radio station WBLI rated the Flanders Duck first amongst the 7 wonders of Long Island,[16][17] just ahead of the Commack Motor Inn.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "The Big Duck". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Ketcham, Diane (1995-07-30). "ABOUT LONG ISLAND; A Cherished Roadside Symbol of the Region". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  4. ^ a b c Finn, Robin (2007-10-14). "Big Duck Is Back at Hamptons' Gateway". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  5. ^ Champan, Llewellyn (October 3, 2013). "No Ugly Ducklins at Autumn Antique Auto Show". Dan's Papers.
  6. ^ a b c Determining the Facts Reading 1: Representational Architecture Archived 2007-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Roadside Attractions, National Park Service.
  7. ^ McShane, William (August 29, 2004). "Make Way for The Big Duck". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  8. ^ "Duck on the Move". Dan's Papers. August 17, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  9. ^ Porpora, Kenny. "LI Duck moved without a hitch," Newsday, 6 October 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
  10. ^ "NYC Day Trip: A Visit to The Big Duck, Long Island's Famous Example of Roadside Architecture". Untapped New York. 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  11. ^ "East End's Big Duck lights up for holidays". News12 Long Island. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  12. ^ Freedman, Mitchell (November 8, 2010). "Burglar Targets Flanders' Iconic Big Duck". Newsday. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  13. ^ Newsday (Feb. 21, 2007): "It Happened on Long Island" (column): "1988: Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck", by Cynthia Blair
  14. ^ Venturi, Robert; Scott Brown, Denise; Izenour, Steven (1977). Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262720069.
  15. ^ Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977
  16. ^ WBLI Morning Show Archived 2008-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ A.J. Carter, Inside Stories[permanent dead link], Newsday, November 20, 2006

External links[edit]

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