The auditorium, which connects two wings of the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, is owned by the U.S. government but available for use by the public.

San Francisco-based American architect Arthur Brown, Jr. designed the auditorium as well as the two buildings adjacent to it.

[6] The sculpture on the pediment depicts Columbia (the feminine personification of the United States) seated on a throne-like chair, an eagle on her right, a nude youth on her left, and the rays of the sun spreading out behind her.

This sculpture, by Edmond Romulus Amateis, depicts George Washington at the Battle of Trenton.

One critic noted, "The open galleries linking the auditorium to its neighbors constitute one of the greatest passages in American architecture.

[3][5] Although plans to redevelop the slum Murder Bay had existed for decades, Congress did not fund the purchase of land or construction of buildings in the area until 1926.

[21] The signing of the North Atlantic Treaty that established NATO occurred in the Auditorium on April 4, 1949.

[22] President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement there in 1994.