Spire

The most conspicuous feature of a steeple, the spire is the soaring, conical form that rises from the lantern or belfry and helps distinguish churches from other classes of buildings. Spires can be reedy, as at Harvard University's Memorial Church, or stout. They can be bereft of ornament or dressed up with ribs, crockets and decorative openings. In some cases, architects opted for a cupola instead of a spire (e.g., Bulfinch's St. Stephen's Church in Boston).