- Antoine Choquet de Lindu
Antoine Choquet de Lindu (7 November 1712,
Brest - 7 October 1790, Brest) was a French architect and military engineer in the service of theFrench Navy Life
Entering the Navy as a clerk, like his father, he executed a very large number of very important buildings at Brest, well-known for their solidity if not for their elegance and so perfectly fitted to their purpose. Made sous-ingénieur in
1743 , he then became chief engineer in1746 . From1764 to1767 , the Ministry of the Navy and the Ministry for War were merged, and Choquet de Lindu was attached to the royal corps of engineers, with a commission as an infantry captain (though he was kept on as director of the maritime works of the port of Brest, underAmédée-François Frézier ).Between 1738 and his retirement in 1784 Choquet de Lindu devoted himself to the rebuilding and expansion of the port of Brest, producing "works of all kinds" - barracks, hospitals, magazines, dry docks, shipyards, theatres, prisons, sail and rope factories, dams and docks. It has been calculated that the buildings built by him over his whole career have a total area of 4,400 square metres. His main works were a
Jesuit chapel attached to the hôpital Saint-Louis, the Brest prison and the three basins of Pontaniou (work on which he restarted in1751 , completing them in1757 ).Works
Buildings
("List drawn from [http://brestmaville.canalblog.com/archives/2006/08/15/2469276.html] ")
*1738-1744 : Four Bordenave shipbuilding docks
*1740 : Chapel of the Jesuit seminary, known as the "chapelle de la marine"
*1740 : Naval forges
*1740 : Second prison of Pontaniou
*1740 : Bakery, washroom, laundry and offices of the navy hospital
*1740 : Iron and carpentry store
*1744-1745 : General magazine
*1745-1747 : High ropewalk
*1747 : Lead, locks, iron and tar store.
*1747 : Shooting range on the quai aux vivres
*1747 : Five-furnace bakery on Parc aux vivres
*1747 : Expansion of the provision bakery on the lower ropewalk
*1750-1751 : Brest prison, closure of the Arsenal of Brest
*1751-1757 : Formes or basins of Pontaniou
*1753 : Fountain on Quai de la Corderie
*1753 : Masts store
*1756-1761 : Barrack-block in quartier de la marine
*1763-1764 : Second mole at Pontaniou
*1766 : Théâtre de la marine - built in 8 months, with a favourable acoustic and good sight-lines throughout
*1766-1767 :Matelot barrack-block (second depot) up to the first floor
*1766 : Upgrade of the mast-machine
*1768-1769 : Iron-store along the first Pontaniou basin
*1768-1770 : Four-furnace bakery
*1769 : Fountain on quai de Kéravel
*1770-1771 : Two mast hangars at Le Salou
*1775 : Cover over the third Pontaniou basin
*1777-1779 : Barracks behind the hospital
*1780 : Pontanézen hospital
*the theatre in BrestHe also completed projects outside the port of
Brest :*
1756 : port ofThe Hague
*1772 : shipyard atLandevennec , on theChâteaulin river.
* the tower of thephare du Stiff on the island ofOuessant Writings
He wrote the "bagne" ("prison") article in Diderot's "Encyclopédie", and was a member of the académie de marine. He published two works:
*1757 : "La Description des trois formes du port de Brest"
*1759 : "La Description du bagne de l’arsenal de Brest"ource
*equivalent|French
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