Phoenix hosted the McDonald’s restaurant whose 1953 design first used the Golden Arches as an architectural feature. Architect Stanley Meston designed the building with large yellow arches rising above the roofline.
The arches were initially intended to make the restaurant visible to passing motorists. They were architectural elements rather than the familiar standalone logo. Their bright color and distinctive shape helped establish a visual identity that could be recognized from the road.
The first arches are associated with the McDonald’s restaurant on North Central Avenue in Phoenix. This fact is sometimes confused with the later creation of the logo, which combined the arches into the letter M.
The Golden Arches eventually outgrew their architectural purpose. They became one of the world’s most recognizable corporate symbols and gave McDonald’s a short, internationally understood visual mark.