Who designed the original McDonald’s restaurant with its distinctive red-and-white tiled building?

Stanley Clark Meston designed the original McDonald’s restaurant with its distinctive red-and-white tiled building.

Meston was the architect responsible for the McDonald brothers’ 1953 restaurant design in Downey, California. The building used red-and-white tile, a pitched roof, a tall sign, and large golden arches integrated into the exterior. Its highly visible roadside appearance became a foundation for McDonald’s early architectural branding.

The restaurant’s design was not merely decorative. The layout and exterior sign helped customers identify the business quickly from passing cars, while the compact kitchen supported the McDonald brothers’ fast-service model. The Downey building survives as the oldest remaining McDonald’s restaurant site.

Meston is sometimes confused with Jim Schindler, who later combined the separate architectural arches into the corporate Golden Arches logo. Meston’s contribution was the restaurant architecture; Schindler’s was the later logo development.