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.
The Big Duck | |
 The Big Duck was constructed in the 1930s to help its owner's duck farming business. | |
 Interactive map showing the Big Duck’s location | |
| Location | Flanders, New York, Suffolk County, New York, USA |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°54′25.32″N 72°37′21.18″W / 40.9070333°N 72.6225500°W |
| Built | 1930-31 |
| Architectural style | Novelty architecture |
| Website | bigduck.org |
| NRHP reference No. | 97000164 |
| Added to NRHP | April 28, 1997 |
Description
editThe Big Duck is a duck-shaped building in Riverhead, New York, 18 by 30 feet (5.5 by 9.1 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m) tall to the top of the head, enclosing 11 by 15 feet (3.4 by 4.6 m) of interior space.[1] The building was designed in 1931 by Riverhead duck farmer Martin Maurer; shaped like a Pekin duck, it was intended as a store as well as for publicity.[2][3] Reportedly, Maurer was inspired by a building in the shaped of a giant coffee pot which he had seen during a trip to California.[1]
The duck's eyes were originally made from Ford Model T tail lights (which glowed red at night)[1] which were later removed and stored at the Suffolk County historical archives.[3] As of 2013[update], the original lights had been reinstalled.[4]
History
editMaurer had the building constructed in 1931 on West Main Street (NY 25) in the Upper Mills section of Riverhead. He hired local labor for the construction job; carpenter George Reeve, along with William and Samuel Collins, brothers who have been described as "eccentric stage show set designers".[5][6] A live duck was used as a model, and a cooked chicken carcass was consulted to ensure an anatomically accurate structure. After the wooden framework was complete, wire mesh was added and covered with cement,[5] a building method known as ferrocement.[7]
The Big Duck opened for business in June 1931[6] and was featured on the Atlas Cement Company's promotional calendar that year.[6] The November 1932 issue of Popular Mechanics covered the bruilding briefly, noting that it contained a salesroom and an office and sat on a foundation of concrete blocks.[8] A miniature version was installed at the 1939 World's Fair by the Drake Baking Company.[6]
Relocations
edit
In 1937, Maurer moved the building to his new duck ranch in Flanders, 4 miles from its original location. By 1939, there were about 90 duck farms in Suffolk County, with many concentrated in the area around Riverhead and Flanders.[9]
The Big Duck closed as a store in 1984. Four years later, the Suffolk County Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the building and moved it to Sears-Bellows Pond County Park, between Flanders and Hampton Bays and repurposed it as gift shop operated by the Friends for Long Island Heritage.[9]
In 2004, a proposal was made to move the duck to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Bohemia, with the move estimated to cost at least $60,000. It was claimed that this would both increase the number of visitors and help publicize the airport's new terminal building.[10]
The move to the airport never happened and the building was returned to its original Flanders location on October 6, 2007.[3] Suffolk County continues to own it, maintains its interior, and pays for staffing while the Town of Southampton maintains the exterior. The original 27-acre (11 ha) duck farm was purchased by the town in 2006.[11][12]
Legacy
editBuildings 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:[14]
When a graphic is taken over by decorative forms or computer debris, when the data measures and structures become Design Elements, when the overall design purveys Graphical Style rather than quantitative information, then the graphic may be called a duck in honor of the duck-form store, "Big Duck." For this building the whole structure is itself decoration, just as in the duck data graphic.
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.[15] However, they preferred the "decorated shed" as a model.[16][17]
On November 13, 2006, radio station WBLI rated the Flanders Duck first amongst the seven wonders of Long Island.[18] In 1997, The Big Duck was listed on the National Register of Historic Places,[19] joined by the Big Duck Ranch in 2008.[20]
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.[21]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "The Big Duck". RoadsideAmerica.com. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Champan, Llewellyn (October 3, 2013). "No Ugly Ducklins at Autumn Antique Auto Show". Dan's Papers.
- ^ a b "The Big Duck". Suffolk County Government: Parks. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
- ^ a b c d Long Island Duck Farm History and Ecosystem Restoration Opportunities Suffolk County, Long Island, New York: A Brief History of the Eastern Long Island Duck Farm Industry (PDF) (Report). US Army Corps of Engineers New York District and Suffolk County, NY. February 2009. pp. 3–4. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ "This Old Place: The Big Duck is a symbol of Long Island's duck farming past". Northforker. 2023-03-17. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
- ^ "Concrete Bird Draws Attention to Duck Farm". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 58, no. 5. November 1923. p. 703. Retrieved June 25, 2024 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Teaching with Historic Places: Roadside Attractions (PDF) (Report). National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Visual Evidence: Images (The Big Duck).
- ^ McShane, William (August 29, 2004). "Make Way for The Big Duck". The New York Times. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- ^ "Duck on the Move". Dan's Papers. August 17, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
- ^ Porpora, Kenny. "LI Duck moved without a hitch," Newsday, 6 October 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
- ^ Newsday (Feb. 21, 2007): "It Happened on Long Island" (column): "1988: Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck", by Cynthia Blair
- ^ Tufte, Edward R. (2001). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2nd ed.). Cheshire, Connecticut: Graphics Press. p. 116.
- ^ Determining the Facts Reading 1: Representational Architecture Archived 2007-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Roadside Attractions, National Park Service.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977
- ^ "The 7 Wonders of Long Island". WBLI. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.
- ^ "Big Duck, The". National Register of Historic Places. April 28, 1997. Asset ID b3b6da4c-0c8a-4569-b612-ef361de621ab.
- ^ "Big Duck Ranch". National Register of Historic Places. September 12, 2008. Asset ID 0e9d3367-2649-46be-875c-54151955edee.
- ^ "East End's Big Duck lights up for holidays". News12 Long Island. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
External links
edit- Big Duck Photo Gallery
- Photos from the 2007 move
- "Memorializing the Big Duck's original roost in Riverhead". RiverheadLOCAL. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- "That's A Big Duck: The Story Of Long Island's Duck Farming Industry And The Iconic Structure It Inspired - 27 East". 27 East. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- "The Big Duck, Southampton New York". Historic Structures. Retrieved 25 June 2024.