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The Big Duck

Flanders, United States of America

The Big Duck

The Big Duck is a 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) ferrocement building in the shape of a duck: a canonical example of novelty architecture. Built in 1931 in Riverhead, New York, United States, it was moved several times to various locations on eastern Long Island, ending up in Flanders in 2007. Well-known for

its distinctive appearance, this structure inspired the word duck as a common term in academic literature used to refer to buildings shaped like everyday objects or to describe excessive ornamentation used in graphical presentations of data. The Big Duck was built in 1931 by duck farmer Martin Maurer for use as a shop to sell ducks and duck eggs. This was during a period when duck farming was a growing industry on eastern Long Island and novelty architecture was on the rise due to the increasing popularity of automobiles. The building attracted both widespread academic criticism and public acclaim. It was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1997 and is a principal building on the Big Duck Ranch, which was listed on both registers in 2008.

Listen to the audio guide for The Big Duck Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off

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