Originally constructed as a filter tank for the Water Department, it was closed down during the Japanese occupation and had its plant removed.

It was named after a Canton-born dentist Look Yan Kit who came to Singapore in 1877 and was involved in the founding of the Kwong Wai Shiu Free Hospital in 1910.

[3] In 1994, the National Trades Union Congress Club announced plans to lease the pool and redevelop it part of its new clubhouse at a cost of $6 million, but it never materialised.

[4] In April 2001, Singapore Sports Council (SSC) decided to close the pool and return it to the state because attendance had dwindled to an average of 120 daily and it was becoming too expensive to maintain.

[6] The complex, which occupies a 14,859-sq-m plot of land was built on an old railway site off Cantonment Road and contains three pools, a single-storey clubhouse and three other buildings which house toilets and showers.