Lansdowne Hotel to close doors to become performing arts school

Chippendale’s iconic venue Lansdowne Hotel is set to close down at the end of this month, with the site to be redeveloped for “educational use” by the Academy of Music and Performing Arts (AMPA).

A development application issued by the City of Sydney details plans for a new learning facility, fit for 200 music students. It will be fitted with a “multi-purpose hall, practice studios, ensemble rooms and administration room,” amongst other key renovation plans.

The DA was lodged by the Arc Education Group, which also operates the Australian Institute of Music. According to Music Feeds, the new site will likely offer Bachelor of Music and other tertiary music degrees.

The Lansdowne will be the latest venue to shut its doors, following the onslaught of venue closures across Sydney’s CBD in the past year. Most recently, iconic venues including Hugo’s, Soho and Q Bar have closed due to Sydney’s infamous lockout laws.

Speaking to SMH, AMPA COO Isaac Chung Li stressed that Lansdowne’s closure would not be the end of live music.

“The last thing we’d want is for the live music scene to be any more impacted than it is. We definitely want to keep that alive,” he said.

Negotiations for the sale had commenced several months ago, but the contract is yet to be formally settled. AMPA will spend up to $1 million in renovations before the site reopens to students next January.

Although AMPA has stated in their council submission that they will “not impact on existing interior heritage elements,” the Lansdowne is a state heritage listing described as “an important contribution to the streetscape of City Road in the vicinity of Broadway.” Prominent architect Sydney Warden built the site in 1926.

With nearly 90 years in business, the Lansdowne is a veteran to Sydney’s live venue scene, hosting gigs for hundreds of bands, DJs and hip-hop acts. The venue is set to close for the last time on August 29.