Which architect designed the original arches for McDonald’s 1953 restaurant in Phoenix?

Stanley Meston designed the original arches for McDonald’s 1953 restaurant in Phoenix.

The McDonald brothers wanted their buildings to stand out from the road, so architect Stanley Meston and his assistant Charles Fish created a design featuring large golden arches on both sides of the restaurant. The arches were part of the building’s architecture before they became a graphic logo.

This architectural origin explains why the McDonald’s symbol is called the Golden Arches. The design was not initially created as a corporate letterform. Its later use as a stylized “M” gave the company a much simpler and more portable brand mark.

Jim Schindler is associated with the 1962 graphic logo, not the original building design. The Phoenix restaurant’s arches therefore belong to the architectural history of McDonald’s branding.