When Santa comes sleighing over Brooklyn Heights he will see a new roof on the 165-year-old First Unitarian Church and light beaming from colorful windows that have been shuttered since mid-summer.

The scaffolding and the plywood panels protecting the five Tiffany stained glass windows facing Monroe Place at Pierrepont Street will be removed, the church hopes, before the annual Unifair event on December 5.

A 10-year, low-interest loan of $300,000 from the Landmark Conservancy financed the replacement of a shingle roof erected almost 50 years ago, said Nancy A. Wolf, chair of the building and grounds council of the board of trustees.

The structure is the oldest of the 10 church buildings in Brooklyn Heights, Wolf noted. Replacing the leaky roof was recommended by Vincent Benic, an architect specializing in historic preservation.

After removal of the old shingles the sub-structure was found to be basically in good condition. It was resurfaced with high-grade shingles along with new cooper flashing and gutters and a leader drain. New copper skylights were also installed, Wolf said by e-mail.

Minard Lafever, a Unitarian and a carpenter by trade, designed and erected the Gothic revival building as the Church of the Saviour in 1842-44. He also designed the Packer Collegiate Institute on nearby Joralemon Street.

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1898-1933) is said to have worked on one of the large windows installed during the 19th century.

The Rev. Dr. Patrick O’Neill is the church’s senior minister.

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