diff --git a/hugolib/404_test.go b/hugolib/404_test.go
index 63a766d94..a4dc667aa 100644
--- a/hugolib/404_test.go
+++ b/hugolib/404_test.go
@@ -35,14 +35,18 @@ func Test404WithBase(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
 	b := newTestSitesBuilder(t)
-	b.WithSimpleConfigFile().WithTemplatesAdded("404.html", `{{ define "main" }}
+	b.WithSimpleConfigFile().WithTemplates("404.html", `{{ define "main" }}
 Page not found
-{{ end }}`)
+{{ end }}`,
+		"baseof.html", `Base: {{ block "main" . }}{{ end }}`).WithContent("page.md", ``)
+
 	b.Build(BuildCfg{})
 
 	// Note: We currently have only 1 404 page. One might think that we should have
 	// multiple, to follow the Custom Output scheme, but I don't see how that would work
 	// right now.
-	b.AssertFileContent("public/404.html", `Page not found`)
+	b.AssertFileContent("public/404.html", `
+Base:
+Page not found`)
 
 }
diff --git a/output/layout.go b/output/layout.go
index 0421e6f3d..e59404684 100644
--- a/output/layout.go
+++ b/output/layout.go
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ type LayoutDescriptor struct {
 }
 
 func (d LayoutDescriptor) isList() bool {
-	return !d.RenderingHook && d.Kind != "page"
+	return !d.RenderingHook && d.Kind != "page" && d.Kind != "404"
 }
 
 // LayoutHandler calculates the layout template to use to render a given output type.
@@ -173,7 +173,9 @@ func resolvePageTemplate(d LayoutDescriptor, f Format) []string {
 		b.addTypeVariations("taxonomy")
 		b.addSectionType()
 		b.addLayoutVariations("terms")
-
+	case "404":
+		b.addLayoutVariations("404")
+		b.addTypeVariations("")
 	}
 
 	isRSS := f.Name == RSSFormat.Name
@@ -182,8 +184,10 @@ func resolvePageTemplate(d LayoutDescriptor, f Format) []string {
 		b.addLayoutVariations("")
 	}
 
-	// All have _default in their lookup path
-	b.addTypeVariations("_default")
+	if d.Baseof || d.Kind != "404" {
+		// Most have _default in their lookup path
+		b.addTypeVariations("_default")
+	}
 
 	if d.isList() {
 		// Add the common list type
diff --git a/output/layout_test.go b/output/layout_test.go
index 7efa5675f..8f26bb6c4 100644
--- a/output/layout_test.go
+++ b/output/layout_test.go
@@ -123,7 +123,11 @@ func TestLayout(t *testing.T) {
 			[]string{"section/shortcodes.amp.html"}, 12},
 		{"Reserved section, partials", LayoutDescriptor{Kind: "section", Section: "partials", Type: "partials"}, "", ampType,
 			[]string{"section/partials.amp.html"}, 12},
-
+		// This is currently always HTML only
+		{"404, HTML", LayoutDescriptor{Kind: "404"}, "", htmlFormat,
+			[]string{"404.html.html", "404.html"}, 2},
+		{"404, HTML baseof", LayoutDescriptor{Kind: "404", Baseof: true}, "", htmlFormat,
+			[]string{"404-baseof.html.html", "baseof.html.html", "404-baseof.html", "baseof.html", "_default/404-baseof.html.html", "_default/baseof.html.html", "_default/404-baseof.html", "_default/baseof.html"}, 8},
 		// We may add type support ... later.
 		{"Content hook", LayoutDescriptor{Kind: "render-link", RenderingHook: true, Layout: "mylayout", Section: "blog"}, "", ampType,
 			[]string{"_default/_markup/render-link.amp.html", "_default/_markup/render-link.html"}, 2},
@@ -134,7 +138,7 @@ func TestLayout(t *testing.T) {
 			layouts, err := l.For(this.d, this.tp)
 
 			c.Assert(err, qt.IsNil)
-			c.Assert(layouts, qt.Not(qt.IsNil))
+			c.Assert(layouts, qt.Not(qt.IsNil), qt.Commentf(this.d.Kind))
 			c.Assert(len(layouts) >= len(this.expect), qt.Equals, true, qt.Commentf("%d vs %d", len(layouts), len(this.expect)))
 			// Not checking the complete list for now ...
 			got := layouts[:len(this.expect)]