Heritage-listed Wollongong homestead Gleniffer Brae will be closed to public functions after Wollongong City Council decided to stop offering the venue for private bookings.The Wollongong Conservatorium of Music will continue to occupy part of the historic building at the Wollongong Botanic Garden.But weddings, Christmas parties and other functions will become a thing of the past. The council has already stopped accepting bookings but has agreed to honour existing reservations.Wollongong historian Carol Herben was disappointed that public access to the building would now be restricted to those involved with the conservatorium. "It was quite a popular venue for weddings and it gave the public an opportunity to appreciate it through an adaptive reuse," Mrs Herben said."It is very disappointing to see it won't be accessible to the general public."The manor was built by the founder of the Port Kembla steelworks, Sidney Hoskins, in 1938. The house and grounds later became a campus of the Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School, until it closed in 1978. The council acquired the property in 1980 and it has since been used for functions and by the conservatorium for almost three decades.In 1999, Gleniffer Brae was listed on the state heritage register. The council blamed its decision on a steady decline in the number of events being held at the venue."Council is currently considering alternative potential future uses for the facility which will continue to conserve its unique heritage values and enhance community access," a spokesperson said.The decision comes only months after another of the council's historic buildings, Glengarry Cottage at Kembla Grange, was closed to the public when the council scrapped public education programs. It is now used as office space for waste management staff. Friends of Wollongong Botanic Garden David Murray said the group was told of Gleniffer Brae's likely closure earlier in the year. The group's Christmas luncheon on November 25 will be their last event at Gleniffer Brae.The conservatorium's chief executive Andrew Snell said discussions with the council about the conservatorium's future at the historic Gleniffer Brae were ongoing, but there were no immediate plans to expand into the vacant space.