Who designed the original McDonald's Golden Arches restaurant design introduced in 1952?

Stanley Meston designed McDonald's original Golden Arches restaurant architecture in 1952. The California architect worked with the McDonald brothers on a building whose roofline featured two large yellow arches.

The arches were intended to make the roadside restaurants visible to passing motorists. When viewed from an angle, the two structures created a distinctive visual frame around the building, helping McDonald's stand out in the rapidly expanding drive-in market.

The arches later became a graphic logo rather than just architectural features. In 1962, designer Jim Schindler combined the arches into the familiar golden “M” emblem, while many restaurants gradually adopted more standardized buildings. The architectural arches and the later logo are related but not the same design.