Scots Hotel



The Scots Hotel is a hotel in Tiberias, Israel, formerly the Scots Mission Hospital, also known as the Scottish Compound. The hotel is run by the Church of Scotland.

History
The hospital was originally founded in 1894 by the Scottish doctor and minister David Watt Torrance, who had first arrived in Tiberias in 1884, as the head of the Church of Scotland mission, to serve the rapidly expanding population. The hospital accepted patients of all races and religions. In 1894, it moved to the current, larger premises at Beit abu Shamnel abu Hannah which initially had 24 beds and 6 cots for patients. David Watt Torrance died in 1923 and the same year his son, Dr. Herbert Watt Torrance, was appointed head of the hospital. In 1949, following the establishment of the State of Israel, it became a maternity hospital supervised by the Israeli Department of Health. Herbert Watt Torrance retired in 1953 and returned to Scotland.

After its closure in 1959, the building became a guesthouse, known as the Scottish Hospice. In 1999, it was renovated at the cost of around £10,000,000 and reopened as the Scots Hotel.