The Legion's magnificent Skinner pipe organ was built in 1924 by the Ernest M. Skinner Organ Company in Boston. Check the schedule to see when the next public organ concert is taking place.

The instrument represents the apex of Ernest M. Skinner's philosophical approach to organ music. The classic ideal for the instrument seeks to emphasize the elaborately intricate voices moving in opposition that characterizes baroque musical styles. In contrast, Skinner championed the romantic ideal, which reproduces the rich, full sound of an entire orchestra, capturing its bold symphonic layering of strings, horns, reeds, and percussion. The sound is meant to resonate in a non-directional manner, creating a musical quality that seems to float, saturating the space with its presence. Through a series of businesses, beginning with the Ernest M. Skinner Company of Boston in 1901, the talented inventor left an indelible mark on American cultural history, implementing many innovations that almost single-handedly raised the organ to the premier status it gained in the first half of the twentieth century as an instrument of unparalleled majesty.

Working with the Legion of Honor architect George Applegarth (1875–1972), Skinner developed a customized plan to accommodate the 4500 pipes seamlessly within the structure of the museum, primarily through a canvas apse painted to look like marble in this gallery. The impressive mahogany, ivory, and ebony console, along with the comprehensive range of stops and additional effects, make this one of the world's finest organs, comparable with Skinner's other masterful achievements at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and at Washington Cathedral in the nation's capitol.