Which architect designed the early McDonald’s restaurant buildings featuring the famous yellow arches?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the early McDonald’s restaurant buildings featuring the famous yellow arches.

Meston worked with artist Charles Fishman on the restaurant design developed for the McDonald brothers. The buildings used a highly visible roadside form, including red-and-white colors, a sloped roof, and tall yellow arches at the sides. These features made the restaurants easy to recognize from passing cars.

The arches were originally architectural elements, not merely a logo printed on signs. Their strong shape later influenced McDonald’s corporate identity and became the basis of the Golden Arches symbol.

Meston is sometimes confused with Jim Schindler. Meston was connected with the early building design, while Schindler is credited with the 1962 graphic logo that combined the arches into an “M.” The two contributions belong to different stages of McDonald’s branding history.