From a humble boarding house to its present-day capacities, Williams House has provided much-needed shelter to CSHL’s guests, faculty, and researchers. It currently has three apartments used by the meetings department and two computer laboratories. It also serves as satellite space for the Martienssen and Jackson Laboratories, both located in Delbrück.

Researchers who develop software for computational biology and genome bioinformatics have laboratories in this building. As a result of the human genome project, we know that people are 99.9% similar in genetic makeup, with differences mainly in single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs. Researchers are developing an SNP database to create a "haplotype map" that will allow rapid identification of a patient's susceptibility to disease and responsiveness to drugs.