The Golden Arches began as two yellow arches on McDonald’s restaurant buildings in the 1950s.
Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the early McDonald’s restaurant form, including large arches that extended above the building. The first notable example was the restaurant opened in Downey, California, in 1953. Their height and color helped the building attract passing motorists.
The arches later became more than architecture. In 1962, Jim Schindler combined their shapes into the stylized M used as the corporate logo. This was a major branding development because the symbol could identify McDonald’s on signs, wrappers, and advertisements without reproducing the full building.
The phrase “Golden Arches” can therefore refer to both the original structures and the logo derived from them. The logo’s history begins with restaurant design, not with a later advertising campaign.