I would guess that those disguised antennae are probably more protected from the elements since it's a weather-proof "dome" that's placed over the metal components.
However...does beauty come at the expense of efficiency?
I like towers....but then again...I'm biased, cuz I'm a radio geek!
Can't understand these fools who yell about CONCEALED towers inside church steeples and then turn around and bitch about their non-working cell phones when they want to order a pizza or their piss-poor TV reception when they want to watch a football game. Hell-ooo!!
How would you know there's an antenna hiding in a church belfry unless you go poking around up there anyway?