Spreckels Organ Pavilion

Located within Balboa Park is the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, which features one of the world's largest outdoor pipe organs. The unique instrument was originally donated by John D. and Adolph Spreckels to the City of San Diego in 1914 for the Panama-California Exposition.

The Spreckels Organ weighs nearly 100,000 pounds and contains 4,530 pipes. The individual pipes range in length from the size of a mere pencil to an impressive 32 feet. Beneath the stage in the basement of the pavilion is a 20-horsepower blower used to supply wind power to the pipes.

Housing the priceless instrument is a vaulted structure with embellished gables. When not in use, the organ is sealed from the outside elements by a 20,000-pound roll-down steel door. Beginning in 1917, San Diego hired a civic organist to perform free weekly concerts on Sundays from 2pm to 3pm. Since 2001, that role has been filled by Dr. Carol Williams, who concurrently serves as the Artistic Director of the Spreckels Organ Society.

Spreckels Organ Pavilion can seat crowds of up to 2,400 or more. Its ornamented main building contains meeting and dressing rooms in addition to the organ. Flanking its central stage are curved Grecian-style colonnades, which contain some 1,400 embedded lights for illumination at night.