Featured Article Summary #211

The Big Duck is a 20-foot ferrocement building shaped like a duck, often used as a classic example of novelty architecture. It was built in 1931 in Riverhead, New York, by duck farmer Martin Maurer as a shop for selling duck and duck eggs. As duck farming grew in eastern Long Island and people increasingly traveled by car, such unusual buildings also became more popular, which helped the Big Duck gain attention. It drew both public praise and academic criticism, and its unique look even influenced how scholars talk about buildings shaped like everyday objects or overly decorative graphics. The Big Duck was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register in 1997, and it later became a key building of the Big Duck Ranch, which was listed on both registers in 2008. The Big Duck is a duck-shaped building in Flanders, New York, built in 1931 by duck farmer Martin Maurer. It was designed as both a farm shop and a publicity stunt, using “novelty” mimetic architecture that became popular in roadside buildings as cars drove past too quickly for small signs—so some businesses used huge, bizarre-shaped displays to attract attention. The idea also reflects the boom and decline of local duck farming on Long Island, which grew after American Pekin ducks arrived in 1873 but later shrank due to regulations and rising land prices. Maurer said he was inspired by a tall, giant coffee-pot building in Los Angeles and began sketching the Big Duck during lunch on his trip. After Maurer returned from California, he struggled to find local contractors, so he hired carpenter George Reeve and the Collins brothers, who had theatre experience designing sets and props. They used a live duck as a model and examined a cooked chicken carcass to get the shape right, then built the wooden frame, added wire mesh, and used ferrocement with four coats of Atlas Cement; the total cost was $3,800, and the duck’s glowing red eyes were made from Ford Model T tail lights. The Big Duck opened in June 1931, later received trademark protection, and was promoted in Atlas Cement materials and briefly covered by Popular Mechanics. A smaller version was shown at the 1939 World’s Fair with instructions that it be destroyed after the event. The Big Duck building was built in 1931 on West Main Street in Riverhead and was moved in 1937 to Maurer’s duck ranch in Flanders, about four miles away. After the store closed in 1984, the county acquired it, moved it to Sears Bellows County Park, and used it as a gift shop until it was returned to Flanders in 2007. A later proposal to move it to Long Island MacArthur Airport never happened, and the return trip was funded largely by donations and town support; it is now reachable from the Riverhead LIRR station. The Big Duck is a well-known example of novelty “mimetic” architecture, designed to look like an everyday object, and it has been officially listed as a historic place since 1997, with the ranch added in 2008. It has also been celebrated in public culture, including appearing in The New Yorker and being called “folk art,” and it is lit up for Christmas each year with local residents. In 1997, plans to expand it into a museum failed due to lack of funding and legal issues, including land-use protections and a lawsuit that stopped a planned donation.