It was constructed between 1937 and 1939 for Captain James Taylor J.P. (a retired farmer) and built to the designs of architect James Austen Laird.

It was one of the last buildings designed by Laird before he closed his practice in 1940.

During the Second World War it was used as a naval hospital by the British Admiralty, but in 1947, Captain Taylor opened it to the public as a hotel.

[3] In 1949 the Keil Hotel Company Ltd was formed by James Taylor and Sibella H. Taylor with a capital of £10,000 (equivalent to £450,000 in 2023)[4] to operate the business.

Within 20 years some of the upper floors had collapsed, and it ended up on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.