Ticho House

Ticho House stands at 10 HaRav Agan Street in downtown Jerusalem, tucked behind the corner of King George and Jaffa streets.[1] It is among the earliest residences built outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City and is first documented on a map made by British surveyor Charles Wilson in 1864.[2]

The two-story mansion has a typically Arab design, with a central hall and rooms leading off it, massive stone walls, and a domed roof.[1][3] It also features vaulted ceilings and arched entrances.[4]

Its terraced garden originally held fruit trees, vegetables, and flowers.[3] The grounds are spacious enough that an undated promotional flyer advertised garden events for up to 350 people.[5] At the height of the Ticho era, the garden was described as "a serene spot in the midst of a slowly expanding city," with pine trees providing sanctuary and shade.[6]

The house's exact construction date is uncertain. Ynet reports that it first appears on Charles Wilson's 1864 map, while other accounts say it was built around that year by Aga Rashid Nashashibi, a member of a prominent Jerusalem Muslim family, and became known as "Rashid's Castle."[1][2]

The building subsequently became the home of antiques dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira, whose family lived there from 1873 to 1883.[1] In 1883, Shapira attempted to sell what he claimed was an ancient Hebrew manuscript of Deuteronomy found near the Dead Sea. The French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau declared the scrolls forged, a conclusion supported by the British Museum and German experts. Shapira left Jerusalem and died by suicide in Rotterdam in 1884, but debate about the lost scrolls has continued.[1][2]

After the Shapira family's departure, other occupants included Fania Weizmann, sister of Chaim Weizmann, who later became Israel's first president.[2] In 1924, ophthalmologist Dr. Avraham (Albert) Ticho and his wife Anna purchased the property and made it both their home and the base for his medical work.[1][3]

On November 12, 1929, Dr. Ticho was stabbed outside his eye clinic near Damascus Gate; the attacker was never identified.[1] After recovering, he moved the clinic to the first floor of the house. Assisted by Anna, he treated Jerusalem residents regardless of socioeconomic standing or background, including Jewish and Arab patients, many suffering from the then-widespread disease trachoma. Treatment was often provided free of charge, and the clinic continued until his death in 1960.[1][3]

During the Mandate period, the garden became a meeting place for British government officials, émigré intellectuals, local artists, and patients.[6] Guests at the Tichos' salon included Marc Chagall, Mordecai Ardon, Martin Buber, Gershom Scholem, S. Y. Agnon, and British High Commissioner Sir Arthur Wauchope.[2][7] During the Palmach period, the Haganah reportedly concealed a weapons cache in the property's grove without the Tichos' knowledge.[2]

Anna Ticho worked alongside her husband as his assistant and nurse while pursuing an independent artistic career.[2][8] She created paintings and drawings of Jerusalem's hills and landscapes in several media. She began exhibiting in Israel and abroad in 1930, and her work later appeared in major museums internationally.[2][8] The walls of the house displayed her pictures alongside Avraham Ticho's collection of Hanukkah lamps.[9]

Dr. Ticho died in 1960, and Anna continued to live and work in the house for another two decades.[1] Shortly before her death in 1980, she received the Israel Prize for her art.[1][8] The childless couple's house and collections passed to the Israel Museum, while Anna's will expressed her intention that the property become a cultural and artistic center benefiting Jerusalem's residents.[2][10]

The house was renovated after Anna Ticho's death and opened to the public in 1984 as part of the Israel Museum.[10] By 2024, it had served for four decades as the museum's downtown Jerusalem annex for contemporary art exhibitions.[1] A permanent display traces its history as Anna's studio and Avraham's clinic, while the collections include period furniture, original furnishings, letters, old documents, Anna's work, and Dr. Ticho's Hanukkah lamps.[1][10]

Architectural historian David Kroyanker led the earlier restoration that adapted the residence as a museum, restoring the façade and opening interior spaces while retaining the impression of private rooms.[2] Architect Amir Freundlich carried out a further restoration in 2015, described as sensitive to the building's character, at a reported cost of NIS 10 million.[1] The house reopened on August 1, 2023, after another renovation in which former restaurant and kitchen areas were converted into gallery space.[11] Ceiling paintings were discovered during earlier restoration work.[4]

Ticho House has hosted changing art and photography exhibitions, concerts, storytelling events, and a monthly cultural gathering called "In Mrs. Ticho's Salon."[2][3][5] Its garden, library, and café-restaurant have also served as settings for cultural programming and dining.[3][5]

A 2014 Jewish Review of Books article reviewed an exhibition at Ticho House of Yihye Haybi's photographs from Yemen, taken between 1930 and 1944. It described the photographs as "an ethnographic treasure documenting the waning years of an ancient community."[12]

The principal historical debate associated with Ticho House concerns Moses Shapira's Deuteronomy manuscript. Experts of his day denounced it as a forgery, but the scrolls later disappeared and their authenticity has never been definitively settled; recent scholarship has suggested they may have been genuine.[1][2]

Separately, the Jewish Virtual Library describes Shapira as having allegedly sold fake artifacts to the British Museum. The source presents this as an allegation rather than an established fact.[3]