McDonald’s first used Golden Arches as restaurant architecture in 1953.
Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the arches for a McDonald’s restaurant in Downey, California, operated by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. The arches were tall yellow structures built into the restaurant so the building could be recognized from the road.
The arches initially served as architectural signs rather than a standalone corporate logo. In the early 1960s, McDonald’s combined two arches into the famous overlapping “M” symbol. That distinction causes a common mix-up: 1953 refers to the arches as a building feature, while later dates refer to their use as graphic branding.
The Downey restaurant is preserved as the oldest surviving McDonald’s site and is closely associated with the beginning of the arches’ visual identity.