Who designed the distinctive red-and-white McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, opened in 1955?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the distinctive red-and-white McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, opened in 1955.

The building was created for Ray Kroc’s first McDonald’s System restaurant. Meston’s design used a streamlined, highly visible form with red-and-white surfaces and tall yellow arches rising above the roofline. Those features helped turn the restaurant itself into a recognizable piece of roadside branding.

The Des Plaines location was not the original restaurant founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino. It was the first McDonald’s restaurant operated under Kroc’s franchise system, opening on April 15, 1955. Its architecture became an important model for the chain’s early visual identity.

Meston is sometimes confused with Jim Schindler, who designed the later 1962 Golden Arches logo. Meston designed the building and its architectural sign elements; Schindler created the corporate logo that became the company’s broader symbol.