What distinctive architectural feature gave McDonald's its Golden Arches brand name?

Roadside arches gave McDonald's its Golden Arches brand name.

The original McDonald's restaurant buildings featured large yellow arches as architectural elements at the sides of the structure. They were designed to attract motorists' attention and make the drive-in restaurants visible from the road.

Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the arches for the McDonald brothers' early restaurant buildings. The arches were not initially created as a standalone corporate logo; they became a logo only after McDonald's combined them into the recognizable M-shaped symbol.

This history explains why the term Golden Arches refers both to physical restaurant architecture and to McDonald's corporate identity. The arches are often described simply as a stylized letter M, but their branding significance came from their earlier role as real roadside structures.