Francois Massau built three rotating houses around Wavre.

By JOHN TAGLIABUE

WAVRE, Belgium - With energy prices rising, Francois Massau, a coal merchant-turned-builder who died impoverished and alone in 2002 at the age of 97, is enjoying a small measure of posthumous fame, though not here in his hometown.
In the 1950s, when few people talked about ecology or conserving energy, Mr. Massau built what was among the earliest revolving homes. He built it in 1958 so his sickly wife could enjoy sunshine and warmth any time of the day or the year.
Today, as energy prices soar, revolving buildings have become fashionable. In Germany, Rolf Disch has built a solarpowered rotating house; in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, David Fisher, an Israeli-born Italian architect, plans an 80-story rotating skyscraper . Some call it sunflower architecture.
The technology Mr. Massau pioneered was so effective that all three of the revolving houses he built remain operational. Yet on the 50th anniversary of his first house, there will be no ceremonies or honors.
Mr. Massau spent his later years unhappily, in court with government agencies and contractors seeking money he believed he was owed.
“He was always seen as eccentric,” said Guy Otten, a retired journalist who wrote about Mr. Massau. “He was never appreciated here.”
His first revolving house stands in a stylish neighborhood on a rise above Wavre. Its brick and concrete foundation is stationary, supporting a steel track on which the house revolves, moved by an electric motor.
“It’s the most beautiful house in Wavre,” said Dominique Quinet, who lives there .As a toddler, her daughter often played in the sandbox outside. “If I worked in the kitchen,” Ms. Quinet said, “I simply moved the kitchen to where the sandbox was, so I could keep an eye on her.”
The people of Wavre are divided in their view of Mr. Massau. Old photos from 1958 show local dignitaries, including the mayor, admiring his first house. The dignitaries brought admiration but no money. By 1968 Mr. Massau was forced to sell the house to Ms. Quinet’s father, Paul, to finance construction of more houses.
Paul Quinet also lent Mr. Massau money, hoping to be repaid when the houses were sold. “But he never sold them,” Ms. Quinet said. “My father had to go to court. Mr. Massau was not correct in his attitude. But then, he was not a businessman.”
Those who defend Mr. Massau say his was a typical case of the outsider crushed by the establishment.
“He was not an architect, he was not an engineer, he was not a builder,” said his grandson Philippe Willems, who lives in the second of Mr. Massau’s three houses in Malonne, a village south of Wavre. “He was a coal merchant, a mason. He sold everything to build his houses.”