The Glass House in Rocky Hill hosts D&R Greenway.
By: Ilene Dube
What could be better than, oh, chocolate in February?
How about an afternoon of magnificent poetry, sleek architecture and breathtaking views, and wine and cheese, as well, and all for a good cause the preservation of the beauty of the environment?
Did I mention the sun playing peek-a-boo behind cumulonimbus clouds?
The setting for Sunday’s escape was the Mies Van Der Rohe-inspired, 35,000-square-foot Glass House in Rocky Hill. The house offers 360-degree views of the surrounding wildlife-rich 48 acres, complete with a duck pond. The poetry was read by Paul Muldoon of Princeton University and Oxford University, who has been hailed as one of the most significant poets of our times. And the beneficiary of this fantastical affair was central New Jersey’s regional land conservancy, the Delaware & Raritan Greenway.
Irish-born Mr. Muldoon, who lives just down the road from the Greenway’s Canal Road headquarters in Franklin, is a D&R supporter and a champion of open space, and so his role was fitting. His neighbors, John and Prudence Boulton, throw no stones from their Glass House they, too, are supporters of the D&R and hosted Sunday’s event to help raise funds for the nonprofit organization that has, since 1989, protected more than 5,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land in central New Jersey, valued at more than $91 million. Sixty-five people attended.
Located on a 48-acre private park, the Glass House is surrounded by hundreds of acres of preserved land, and the D&R Canal itself meanders along the front of the property. The house has an indoor swimming pool with a wave system, and there are no interior supporting columns or walls (or even curtains, for that matter), to block a view from anywhere within the house.
Occupied by its owners for two years, Glass House is a work in progress and is up for sale. Mr. Boulton, inspired by the Barcelona Pavilion in Spain, dreamed up his vision of unobstructed views and glass and employed architect Jim Kissane to do the renderings.
As Mozart reverberates through the wide-open spaces, with the effect of openness amplified by a 14-foot ceiling, Ms. Boulton leads a quick tour. The highlights: A glass house has no walls for switches, so everything is controlled from a switchbox on the kitchen counter. With no walls to lean up against, the kitchen appliances stand like islands. The sound system that projects Mozart’s melodies is bounced off a satellite, an audio system pioneered by Mr. Boulton.
Mr. Muldoon, looking like a stout Paul McCartney with tousled hair and dark-rimmed glasses, read from his newest collection, Moy, Sand and Gravel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), as well as two earlier volumes: Selected Poems 1968-1986 and Poems 1968-1998. His poetry takes the listener from the apple-heavy County Armagh of the 1950s, where he was raised, to the banks of the D&R Canal, which was dug by Irish laborers in the 1830s. As he read, Mr. Muldoon frequently turned to admire the view: a duck on the pond, the sun setting behind the clouds. It seemed to take his breath away.
For more information about the D&R Greenway, call (609) 924-4646. On the Web: www.delrargreenway.org

