Who created the early McDonald's restaurant design featuring the original Golden Arches?

Stanley Clark Meston created the early McDonald's restaurant design featuring the original Golden Arches.

Meston was the architect responsible for the distinctive roadside restaurant design developed for McDonald's in the 1950s. Its most recognizable feature was the pair of tall yellow arches rising from the sides of the building.

The arches served a practical branding purpose: they made restaurants easy to spot from passing roads. They were part of the building before the company adopted the overlapping arches as its formal logo in 1962.

Meston is often confused with Jim Schindler, who designed the later logo based on the architectural arches. Keeping those roles separate helps explain McDonald's branding history: Meston shaped the early building, while Schindler converted its most memorable feature into a universal graphic mark.