Across the country there were a number of public and private buildings constructed between 1945 and the early 1950s for which architects continued to employ the imagery of the pre-World War II years. For the Sioux City Auditorium, K. E. Westerlind gathered together those design features associated with the PWA Moderne of the late 1930s. The massing, symmetry, proportions, and details were derived from the Beaux-Arts Classical tradition. Westerlind modernized the classical spirit of this building by emphasizing smooth brick walls, by having the openings essentially cut into the building, and by introducing rounded corners and patterns of horizontal lines. The Sioux City Auditorium was sited so that it functions as a terminus to Douglas Street. The post-World War II injection of a wide freeway (US 77) between the auditorium and the river has appreciably enhanced the building's visibility, thus relating its northern exposure to the city proper and revealing its southern exposure to people entering the city via the freeway.