For decades one of the most famous homes in America has been threatened by flooding, and now the trust that owns it says it’s time for action.

One controversial solution involves moving Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Farnsworth House, which sits on a floodplain in Plano, Illinois, to another location on the 62-acre estate.

“There have been three major flooding issues in the last 20 years,” says Stephanie Meeks, CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns the landmark house. And studies show that the frequency and intensity of flooding will only increase, she adds. But the plan to move the house isn’t without critics, including Mies’s grandson, Dirk Lohan, who is part of a board that advises the trust on the Farnsworth House.

“The fact that the house is located where it is is as important as the architecture,” says Lohan, an architect in nearby Chicago. “One shouldn’t just move it to high ground where it would never flood. It was designed to be in the floodplain. In other words, the flooding was part of the concept of the house.”

Both Lohan and Meeks agree that Mies never imagined the flooding would be so disastrous, though. A recent Chicago Tribune report highlights the damage the house has seen since Mies completed it in 1951—from broken windows to a ruined travertine floor—and outlines the trust’s options. The problem is finding a solution that keeps the house safe but doesn’t compromise the architect’s vision.

Lohan does agree with another option the trust is considering: employing a hydraulic lift under the house so it could be lifted before a flood. “You would never see it,” he says. “It’s a completely underground solution. The house would look exactly the way it looks now, under normal circumstances.”

Meeks adds that there is a third option on the table, although she has less confidence it will succeed because of environmental red tape—raising the house by adding a mound of fill under and around the structure. The trust has been researching solutions for 18 months and in July will present its options to Landmarks Illinois, a historic preservation nonprofit that holds an easement on the house and must approve the project.

“I’d say the one thing that everyone seems to be in agreement about is that doing nothing is not an option,” Meeks says. “We feel very strongly that we have to protect this house from this threat.”

Learn more about the flood mitigation project at farnsworthprojecrg.