NEW YORK — A historic and graceful mid-19th century Episcopal church in brownstone Brooklyn sustained major damage as a result of a lightning strike last week, and the four weakened steeples rising above the corners of its stately bell tower will have to be torn down.

The lightning strike during severe thunderstorms Thursday ripped stones off the bell tower of Christ Church in Cobble Hill and sent them tumbling onto scaffolding that had been put up alongside the church for repairs. One pedestrian, Richard Schwartz, 61, a lawyer on the New York State Attorney General’s staff, had been walking or taking shelter under the scaffolding and was struck by either the collapsing scaffolding or debris and died later at Long Island College Hospital. Schwartz worked for the agency for more than 25 years as an antitrust lawyer in the economic justice division.

Tuesday, structural engineers and a demolition team hired by the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island assessed the damage to the brown sandstone church with the assistance of two cranes. One hoisted a cage for workers to the top of the 117-foot crenelated bell tower; the other raised a metal box in which were placed loose stones from one of the four steeples.

The steeples are about 70 feet tall, although they look shorter because they hug the corners of the square bell tower for most of their height. A spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Buildings, Ryan FitzGibbon, said Tuesday afternoon that one entire steeple had been taken down and the three others would be removed in coming days.

As saddened neighbors looked up from behind plywood barriers, they could also see that the roof of the nave had been punctured, meaning that rainwater can get inside the main hall of the church, which contains many elements, like the altar and pulpit, that were designed around 1916 by Louis C. Tiffany, more famous for his glass lampshades. One Gothic-arched window in the nave was almost completely devoid of glass; another was shattered. At least eight large brown stones were visible on the Kane Street sidewalk at the base of the tower.

FitzGibbon said the bell tower itself was structurally stable although some blocks did come loose.

The church was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Richard Upjohn, a resident of the neighborhood and the same architect who designed Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. Christ Church was completed in 1842, the fourth Episcopal congregation to be established in Brooklyn. The church, according to its website, was severely damaged by a fire in 1939 and all but six windows of the nave were destroyed, including a Tiffany window depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The church, though, was rebuilt and was designated a city landmark in 1969, around the same time Cobble Hill, with its rows of elegant brownstones and shady, tree-lined sidewalks, was named a historic district.

“It sparkles with the natural variations in coloring of such stonework,” a Landmarks Preservation Commission report said at the time of the church.

According to the Rev. Shawn Duncan, the canon for media and mission at the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, Christ Church’s average Sunday attendance is 77. Asked whether the diocese would restore the church to its state before the lightning strike, Duncan said “we’re still in conversation with the insurance company about that.”

“That would be ideal,” he added, “but we don’t know what’s covered and what the congregation will have to bear.”

It was not clear when services would resume at the church, Duncan said, but for the near future, the diocese would assist the rector of Christ Church, the Rev. Ronald Lau, and the leadership of the parish in finding alternative locations for worship.

The church is a mainstay of the community, residents said, not only for its Sunday services but also for its annual St. Nicholas Medieval Christmas Faire. Elisabeth Broome, the managing editor of Architectural Record, an industry publication, and a resident of Cobble Hill for 14 years, said that her 7-year-old twins, Alejandro and Isabel, attended a preschool at the church and that Isabel still takes ballet lessons there. The church also hosts a club for purchasing organic food, she added.

“It’s a seminal piece of architecture from that point in time,” she said. “It contributes to the character of this part of brownstone Brooklyn that has been so lucky to be well preserved. It’s very much an anchor of the neighborhood.”

Margaret Maycumber, a retired assistant literary agent who often has attended the Christmas fair, could not help but think of the storm’s human victim as well.

“That poor man must have been waiting under the scaffolding to stay out of the rain,” she said.

© 2012 The New York Times Company