Sacramento is located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers. According to James S. Dean, whom was the City Architect when the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium was built:

Wherever the development of civilization has taken place in great river valleys, there has arisen architecture of brick made possible by local alluvial deposits. While brick is the predominating material, stone and plaster, and terra cotta have all been carefully worked into the design.

After much careful study, it was decided to adopt a form of the Byzantine, as developed in northern Italy in the 5th and 6th centuries.

The result has been referred to as Byzantine, Italian Romanesque, Lombardic, and even Spanish. The best collective label for the building may be southern European, Early Renaissance Revival.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1978.