diff --git a/src/ng/browser.js b/src/ng/browser.js
index 73606fe7c2d8..51f2bebb0555 100644
--- a/src/ng/browser.js
+++ b/src/ng/browser.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 'use strict';
+var BASE_HREF_REGEXP = /^(https?\:)?\/\/[^\/]*/;
 
 /**
  * ! This is a private undocumented service !
@@ -253,7 +254,7 @@ function Browser(window, document, $log, $sniffer) {
    */
   self.baseHref = function() {
     var href = baseElement.attr('href');
-    return href ? href.replace(/^(https?\:)?\/\/[^\/]*/, '') : '';
+    return href ? href.replace(BASE_HREF_REGEXP, '') : '';
   };
 
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/ng/location.js b/src/ng/location.js
index 9ab99cb719fa..5d37831feac6 100644
--- a/src/ng/location.js
+++ b/src/ng/location.js
@@ -531,7 +531,8 @@ function locationGetterSetter(property, preprocess) {
  */
 function $LocationProvider(){
   var hashPrefix = '',
-      html5Mode = false;
+      html5Mode = false,
+      _baseHref;
 
   /**
    * @ngdoc property
@@ -567,6 +568,22 @@ function $LocationProvider(){
     }
   };
 
+  /**
+   * @ngdoc property
+   * @name ng.$locationProvider#baseHref
+   * @methodOf ng.$locationProvider
+   * @description
+   * In situations where it is desireable to specify an external URL within the `<base>` tag, for
+   * simplifying access to external resources, this configuration method will override the <base>
+   * tag and enable location rewrites to work as expected;
+   * 
+   * @param {string} href Base application url
+   */
+  this.baseHref = function(href) {
+    /* global BASE_HREF_REGEXP */
+    _baseHref = href && href.replace(BASE_HREF_REGEXP, '');
+  };
+
   /**
    * @ngdoc event
    * @name ng.$location#$locationChangeStart
@@ -600,7 +617,8 @@ function $LocationProvider(){
       function( $rootScope,   $browser,   $sniffer,   $rootElement) {
     var $location,
         LocationMode,
-        baseHref = $browser.baseHref(), // if base[href] is undefined, it defaults to ''
+        // if base[href] is undefined, it defaults to ''
+        baseHref = isString(_baseHref) ? _baseHref : $browser.baseHref(),
         initialUrl = $browser.url(),
         appBase;
 
diff --git a/test/ng/locationSpec.js b/test/ng/locationSpec.js
index ff823d306efd..2b97cfc69e48 100644
--- a/test/ng/locationSpec.js
+++ b/test/ng/locationSpec.js
@@ -1256,6 +1256,23 @@ describe('$location', function() {
         }).not.toThrow();
       });
     });
+
+
+    it('should use $locationProvider.baseHref() as base url if available', function() {
+      module(function($locationProvider) {
+        $locationProvider.baseHref("http://host.com/ngApp/");
+        $locationProvider.html5Mode(true);
+        return function($browser, $rootElement, $document){
+          $browser.url("http://host.com/ngApp/");
+          $browser.$$baseHref = "http://server/assets";
+        };
+      });
+
+      inject(function($rootScope, $location, $browser) {
+        expect(function() { $location.$$parse($location.$$rewrite("http://host.com/ngApp/routeA")); }).not.toThrow();
+        expect($location.path()).toBe('/routeA');       
+      });
+    });
   });