Stanley Meston designed the 1953 McDonald's restaurant whose arches influenced the brand logo.
Meston designed the restaurant in Downey, California, for McDonald's founders Richard and Maurice McDonald. The building used tall yellow arches on either side of the restaurant, making the location visible to passing motorists and giving the growing chain a distinctive roadside appearance.
Those physical arches predated the modern corporate logo. In 1962, McDonald's construction and engineering executive Jim Schindler created the stylized double-arch mark that converted the architectural idea into a graphic symbol.
This history creates a common attribution error. Meston is associated with the restaurant architecture and the original arches, while Schindler is associated with the modern logo. The Downey site is widely recognized as the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant location and now operates as a museum rather than a standard restaurant.