Antoine Choquet de Lindu

Antoine Choquet de Lindu (7 November 1712, in Brest – 7 October 1790, in Brest) was a French architect and military engineer in the service of the French Navy.

Life Choquet de Lindu was born in Brest on 7 November 1712, into a family of administrators. 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 in 1746. From 1764 to 1767, 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, under Amédée-François Frézier).

Between 1743 and his retirement in 1784, Choquet de Lindu was chief engineer of the royal navy. In this role, he 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 in 1751, completing them in 1757).

Works

Buildings (List drawn from ) 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 Brest

He also completed projects outside the port of Brest :

1756 : port of La Hague 1772 : shipyard at Landevennec, on the Châteaulin river. the tower of the phare du Stiff on the island of Ouessant

Writings He wrote the "bagne" ("prison") article in Diderot's Encyclopédie, and was appointed as a member of the académie de marine in 1752. He published two works: 1757 : La Description des trois formes du port de Brest 1759 : La Description du bagne de l'arsenal de Brest