The mansion was built around 1864, apparently for the Nashashibis, a prominent local family.[5] The house had previously been lived in by antiquities dealer and forger Wilhelm Moses Shapira.[6] The Tichos hosted local and British government officials in her home, as well as many artists, writers, academics and intellectuals. Toward the end of her life, she willed the house, her art collection, including many of her own works, and her husband's extensive Judaica collection to the city of Jerusalem.