Who designed the distinctive 1950s McDonald's restaurant with its sloping yellow arches?

Architect Stanley Meston designed the distinctive 1950s McDonald's restaurant with its sloping yellow arches.

Meston worked with the McDonald brothers on a restaurant design that was easy to recognize from the road. Its most memorable feature was a pair of large yellow arches rising from the sides of the building. The design made the restaurant visible to passing motorists and gave the growing chain a consistent architectural identity.

The arches were not originally created as a logo. They were part of the building itself, and the familiar corporate mark came later when McDonald's combined the two forms graphically. Jim Schindler is associated with that later logo adaptation, which is why the two designers are frequently mixed up.

The surviving 1953 McDonald's site in Downey, California, is a notable example of the early restaurant style. It is preserved as a museum and is commonly identified as the oldest surviving McDonald's restaurant.