So it's with a dash of irony that the beloved pub is to become a house of learning, with the building to be sold to the Academy of Music and Performing Arts, which specialises in dance, musical theatre and music production.

Under a development application lodged with the City of Sydney council, it is planned that the Lansdowne site will host 200 students in a refurbished suite of study rooms, performance areas and recording studios.

Gone would be the beer-soaked carpets, battered pool tables and the sweaty stage where countless young musos have played their first - and last - gigs. Bands that have played there include The Living End, Hard-Ons, Died Pretty, Go-Betweens and You Am I.

The closure, possibly as soon as August 29, would be another blow for the city's nightlife and live music scene, following the recent shuttering of the Exchange Hotel on Oxford Street. But AMPA chief operating officer Issac Chung Lee said he intended to retain public performances at an auditorium on the site.

"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.

Mr Chung Lee said contracts for the sale were exchanged several months ago but the deal was yet to be formally settled. He said AMPA intended to spend up to $1 million revamping the site before opening it to students in January.

"It has seen better days," he said. "The building itself is in quite a shocking state at the moment."

The art deco Lansdowne was built in the 1920s, designed by prominent local architect Sidney Warden. Its state heritage listing describes it as a "prominent landmark" that "makes an important contribution to the streetscape of City Road in the vicinity of Broadway".

In its plan of management submitted to council, AMPA said it would ensure any future maintenance would "not impact on existing interior heritage elements". The development application is on public exhibition until August 12 and will then to go local planners for approval.

The Lansdowne opened as a pub in 1933 and became part of Chippendale's notorious grit. The six-o'clock swill was an industrious affair, with male patrons reportedly able to urinate directly into a trough without leaving the bar.

The pub's proximity to the University of Sydney - and later the University of Technology, Sydney - also ensured a steady stream of student clientele. At times it was an occasional haunt of the Sydney Push, a group of young left-wing intellectuals that began congregating in the 1940s.

In January 2013, a fire tore through parts of the building, closing the pub for several months. A 23-year-old woman was charged with starting the blaze, which police alleged had originated over a fight between tenants living on the third floor.

Last year the venue was bought by Oscars Hotels, which operates a number of pubs around Sydney and Wollongong. When contacted by Fairfax Media on Monday, the company said its group general manager was on leave and could not comment until next week. Pub management also declined to comment.

The Lansdowne is outside the prescribed CBD Entertainment Precinct where 1.30am lockouts and 3am "last drinks" laws apply.

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