Gavin Borden, President of Garland Publishing Company in New York, first published Molecular Biology of the Cell, a cellular and molecular biology textbook, which became the most widely used biology textbook in the world. It is now published by W.W. Norton & Co. and currently authored by Bruce Alberts, Rebecca Heald, David Morgan, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, and Peter Walter. The Nobel Laureate James Watson contributed to the first three editions.

Gavin Borden and Bruce Alberts co-purchased 2A Nugent Terrace from Lord Jacob Rothschild, to be contractually maintained by Garland Publishing, as a convenient place for writing and editorial sessions for the textbook. Before obtaining the house, the Alberts had the Rothschild furnishings of the house duplicated by a Scottish furniture maker. 

In 1991, Gavin Borden died of cancer, having sold his share of the house to Bruce Alberts. To this day, editorial sessions are regularly convened there.  Bruce Alberts became President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1993