Tai Po Lookout was built in the early twentieth century by Lawrence Gibbs, a British engineer, as his residence.

It was used by government officials such as the Tai Po District Officers and the Head of Police Secret Service as their private residences.

Immediately after, the November of the same year, the Lookout was sold to John Alexander Fraser, a judge in Hong Kong as his living quarter.

During the time of World War II, Fraser was kept in the Stanley Internment Camp during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong where he died.

The SAC is a professional team of nurses, counselors, social workers and physiotherapists who provide both centered-based and external services for AIDS patients and their families.

The organization planned to implement the Lookout Project as a measure to tackle with the lack of hospice facilities when AIDS treatment was not mature.

Health officials argued that the Lookout was deemed to be short-living as "cocktail therapy", treatment by taking a combination of several antiretroviral drugs, was already available in Hong Kong and was expected to be used extensively.

[2][6] The Lookout, situated at a remote area in Tai Po, functioned as a 24-hour residential medical center that offered day-care as well as in-patient service, particularly for terminal patients.

On top of these, the Lookout was a center for physiotherapy and counselling to help patient maintain good physical and psychological health.

An integration of services was provided by a team of specifically trained doctors, nurses and social workers in palliative care.

[2] Most of the patients admitted when the Lookout first operated were kicked out by their families, who could not tolerate the notion of living under the same roof with relatives contracted with HIV.

It served as a "mid-way home" for patients to rebuild self-esteem and helped them integrate into the community by providing space and time for them to organize themselves.

Falling short of demand, together with the drying up of funds, prompted the SAC's decision to put an end to the Project in February, 2000.

The walls stands on a low rubble plinth and are painted white, this remains to be unchanged till present time.

There are several quarters for servants in a detached block set at a particular angle next to the main building of the Lookout located on another small hill.

[8] The design of the house internally is quite symmetrical and had some walls and partitions removed over the years by comparing the current building with the original floor plan.

[8] It is known that the Lookout is able to view Island House (the former residence of government official, now property of the World Wide Fund for Nature) located next to the shore, a declared monument of Hong Kong.

Under the management of Government Property Agency (政府產業署), Tai Po Lookout is a structure not open to public.

As a colonial architectural building located in such a remote area in Tai Po, it is a rare and unique piece of heritage that still remains.

[15] In vicinity to Tai Po Lookout in the same district, there is a range of Grade II Historic Buildings managed by different institutions at present time, including, the Old Tai Po Police Station, Old District Office North, Old Police Bungalow, and the Island House.