Yesterday was the local garden tour here. One house had a sort of gothic-looking arch as the entrance to their garden. There were two narrow, pointy evergreen sentinels on either side (cedars I think but I didn't look closely). Beside/behind it was a massive (15-20' tall) cedar hedge - that was clipped (how on earth do you clip something that tall?!) The arch was thickly covered in clematis, which had buds and seedheads but was not in bloom. The owner said she didn't know the variety, only that it was one you weren't supposed to cut back, and that it bloomed blue and white. Even as a green picture, I really liked it.

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The shape reminds me of one of the nicest arbours I have seen. It is located in a very small greenspace beside an old church in the center of town. The church is surrounded by stores and other local businesses and has no yard to speak of. This arbour went up 10-15 years ago. There are wisteria vines starting to grow on it but they have not flowered yet. The arbour was perfect without the vines. It was obviously custom-made to match the church architecture - it looks perfect there. This was not on the tour but I got DH to stop on the way home to get some pictures:

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I don't think there's any real point to this thread, other that to post pictures of thet well-designed church arbour...:-)