Stanley Meston designed the McDonald’s building that introduced its famous roadside arches.
Meston designed the restaurant building used by Richard and Maurice McDonald for their Speedee Service System. The structure featured large yellow arches rising at the sides, making the restaurant highly visible to passing motorists. Those physical arches later inspired the Golden Arches corporate logo.
The architectural feature therefore came before the famous graphic symbol. Jim Schindler is credited with designing the 1962 logo that joined the arches into a stylized “M,” while Meston’s contribution was the building design and its prominent visual elements.
This distinction is a frequent source of confusion in McDonald’s branding history. Ray Kroc expanded the business, Schindler designed the later logo, and Meston designed the influential early restaurant form. Together, their roles explain how an architectural detail became a global brand mark.