Who designed the notable 1950s McDonald’s restaurant building with large yellow arches?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the notable 1950s McDonald’s restaurant building with large yellow arches.

Meston worked with artist Charles Fishman on the restaurant design associated with McDonald’s expansion after the brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald established their fast-service model. The building used strong roadside visual elements, including tall yellow arches, a red-and-white color scheme, and a recognizable roofline.

Those architectural features were important branding before the Golden Arches became a standalone logo. They made restaurants easy to identify from passing roads and created a consistent appearance for the growing chain.

Meston’s architectural role is often confused with Jim Schindler’s graphic-design role. Meston helped create the physical restaurant form; Schindler later adapted the arches into the stylized logo introduced in 1962.