Neither should count. It's a stick on top of a building. If you broke them off the top and put them on the ground we wouldn't call those spires "buildings" so why should they add to the official height of them?
fully agree. but if one (an "architectural feature" spire) "counts" as total height, than the other "spire that is both aesthetic AND functional" should absolutely count, too.
who in the architecture community was the arbiter of what type of, to use your wording, "stick on top of a building" should be counted?
they added the top/spire of the frickin empire state building to anchor zeppelins, so that was "functional" and NOT part of the original design, but i think everyone agrees the ESB looks way better with it.
the Pru is 100% a little over 900' tall. the end.