diff --git a/readthedocs/doc_builder/backends/sphinx.py b/readthedocs/doc_builder/backends/sphinx.py
index 3cfe5766dfe..1d280b8a318 100644
--- a/readthedocs/doc_builder/backends/sphinx.py
+++ b/readthedocs/doc_builder/backends/sphinx.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 from readthedocs.projects.models import Feature
 
 from ..base import BaseBuilder, restoring_chdir
-from ..constants import PDF_RE, SPHINX_STATIC_DIR, SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR
+from ..constants import PDF_RE
 from ..environments import BuildCommand, DockerBuildCommand
 from ..exceptions import BuildEnvironmentError
 from ..signals import finalize_sphinx_context_data
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ def _write_config(self, master_doc='index'):
             'sphinx/conf.py.conf', {
                 'project': self.project,
                 'version': self.version,
-                'template_dir': SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR,
                 'master_doc': master_doc,
             })
         conf_file = os.path.join(docs_dir, 'conf.py')
@@ -114,8 +113,6 @@ def get_config_params(self):
             'project': self.project,
             'version': self.version,
             'settings': settings,
-            'static_path': SPHINX_STATIC_DIR,
-            'template_path': SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR,
             'conf_py_path': conf_py_path,
             'api_host': getattr(
                 settings,
diff --git a/readthedocs/doc_builder/constants.py b/readthedocs/doc_builder/constants.py
index 14598ea00bf..1cd1a5b1348 100644
--- a/readthedocs/doc_builder/constants.py
+++ b/readthedocs/doc_builder/constants.py
@@ -12,19 +12,12 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR = os.path.join(
-    settings.SITE_ROOT,
-    'readthedocs',
-    'templates',
-    'sphinx',
-)
 MKDOCS_TEMPLATE_DIR = os.path.join(
     settings.SITE_ROOT,
     'readthedocs',
     'templates',
     'mkdocs',
 )
-SPHINX_STATIC_DIR = os.path.join(SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR, '_static')
 
 PDF_RE = re.compile('Output written on (.*?)')
 
diff --git a/readthedocs/doc_builder/environments.py b/readthedocs/doc_builder/environments.py
index d48fc73641f..b8980ec6971 100644
--- a/readthedocs/doc_builder/environments.py
+++ b/readthedocs/doc_builder/environments.py
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@
     DOCKER_TIMEOUT_EXIT_CODE,
     DOCKER_VERSION,
     MKDOCS_TEMPLATE_DIR,
-    SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR,
 )
 from .exceptions import (
     BuildEnvironmentCreationFailed,
@@ -866,10 +865,6 @@ def get_container_host_config(self):
         ``client.create_container``.
         """
         binds = {
-            SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR: {
-                'bind': SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR,
-                'mode': 'ro',
-            },
             MKDOCS_TEMPLATE_DIR: {
                 'bind': MKDOCS_TEMPLATE_DIR,
                 'mode': 'ro',
diff --git a/readthedocs/doc_builder/templates/doc_builder/conf.py.tmpl b/readthedocs/doc_builder/templates/doc_builder/conf.py.tmpl
index a5f0d064c2b..e36cdd16af5 100644
--- a/readthedocs/doc_builder/templates/doc_builder/conf.py.tmpl
+++ b/readthedocs/doc_builder/templates/doc_builder/conf.py.tmpl
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ if not 'html_static_path' in globals():
     html_static_path = []
 if os.path.exists('_static'):
     html_static_path.append('_static')
-html_static_path.append('{{ static_path }}')
 
 # Add RTD Theme only if they aren't overriding it already
 using_rtd_theme = (
diff --git a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/files/conf.py b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/files/conf.py
index 1b65e7b52cb..4007dcfab19 100644
--- a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/files/conf.py
+++ b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/files/conf.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from recommonmark.parser import CommonMarkParser
 
 extensions = []
-templates_path = ['/tmp/sphinx-template-dir', 'templates', '_templates', '.templates']
+templates_path = ['templates', '_templates', '.templates']
 source_suffix = ['.rst', '.md']
 source_parsers = {
             '.md': CommonMarkParser,
diff --git a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_doc_builder.py b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_doc_builder.py
index 154ace66c5d..a384f5d00b7 100644
--- a/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_doc_builder.py
+++ b/readthedocs/rtd_tests/tests/test_doc_builder.py
@@ -71,10 +71,6 @@ def test_conf_py_path(self, checkout_path, docs_dir):
                 expected
             )
 
-    @patch(
-        'readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR',
-        '/tmp/sphinx-template-dir',
-    )
     @patch('readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.BaseSphinx.docs_dir')
     @patch('readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.BaseSphinx.create_index')
     @patch('readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.BaseSphinx.get_config_params')
@@ -131,10 +127,6 @@ def test_create_conf_py(
                 ef.readlines()[:autogenerated_confpy_lines]
             )
 
-    @patch(
-        'readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.SPHINX_TEMPLATE_DIR',
-        '/tmp/sphinx-template-dir',
-    )
     @patch('readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.BaseSphinx.docs_dir')
     @patch('readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.BaseSphinx.create_index')
     @patch('readthedocs.doc_builder.backends.sphinx.BaseSphinx.get_config_params')
diff --git a/readthedocs/templates/sphinx/conf.py.conf b/readthedocs/templates/sphinx/conf.py.conf
index 5854c692ac0..43e7b58b290 100644
--- a/readthedocs/templates/sphinx/conf.py.conf
+++ b/readthedocs/templates/sphinx/conf.py.conf
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from datetime import datetime
 from recommonmark.parser import CommonMarkParser
 
 extensions = []
-templates_path = ['{{ template_dir }}', 'templates', '_templates', '.templates']
+templates_path = ['templates', '_templates', '.templates']
 source_suffix = ['.rst', '.md']
 source_parsers = {
             '.md': CommonMarkParser,