diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index b61dd1285..aff10e9a3 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ New features added
 * The new `exclude_trees` config option can be used to exclude whole
   subtrees from the search for source files.
 
+* The directories in the `html_static_path` can now contain subdirectories.
+
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
diff --git a/doc/config.rst b/doc/config.rst
index 50628c17a..ed1b7b149 100644
--- a/doc/config.rst
+++ b/doc/config.rst
@@ -202,6 +202,9 @@ that use Sphinx' HTMLWriter class.
    files, so a file named :file:`default.css` will overwrite the builtin
    :file:`default.css`.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 0.4
+      The paths in :confval:`html_static_path` can now contain subdirectories.
+
 .. confval:: html_last_updated_fmt
 
    If this is not the empty string, a 'Last updated on:' timestamp is inserted
diff --git a/sphinx/builder.py b/sphinx/builder.py
index 0fd838481..b7ab1bf4d 100644
--- a/sphinx/builder.py
+++ b/sphinx/builder.py
@@ -507,8 +507,14 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
                           for spath in self.config.html_static_path]
         for staticdirname in staticdirnames:
             for filename in os.listdir(staticdirname):
-                if not filename.startswith('.'):
-                    shutil.copyfile(path.join(staticdirname, filename),
+                if filename.startswith('.'):
+                    continue
+                fullname = path.join(staticdirname, filename)
+                if path.isfile(fullname):
+                    shutil.copyfile(fullname,
+                                    path.join(self.outdir, '_static', filename))
+                elif path.isdir(fullname):
+                    shutil.copytree(fullname,
                                     path.join(self.outdir, '_static', filename))
         # add pygments style file
         f = open(path.join(self.outdir, '_static', 'pygments.css'), 'w')