203 South New Road

In the summer of 1963, Jean Inglis Law had been a divorcee for a year in Cortland, NY, and felt the desire to live closer to her family and old friends. She sold the Cortland house and moved to 203 South New Rd., Hamden, CT. This was one of a long row of nearly identical ranch houses. Steven Inglis Law moved along with her. Reed Gwillim Law Jr. was then in college, but came to consider the house his home base for summers and occasional weekend visits, until 1976.

The base of the house was a basement split into a rec room and utility area by a wooden partition. Gwil and Steven quickly claimed the rec room as a work space, installing makeshift electric lights and a plywood workbench. The main floor had three bedrooms and one bathroom toward the left. The rest of the floor was an L-shaped room conceived as a living room facing the street and a dining nook facing the back, with a kitchen contained in the L. There was an attached one-car garage.

The lot ran back to a fence that separated it from Mill River, which flooded on occasion.