diff --git a/synapse/handlers/__init__.py b/synapse/handlers/__init__.py
index 0bad3e0a2e..413425fed1 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/__init__.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ from .directory import DirectoryHandler
 from .federation import FederationHandler
 from .identity import IdentityHandler
 from .register import RegistrationHandler
-from .room import RoomContextHandler
 from .search import SearchHandler
 
 
@@ -48,4 +47,3 @@ class Handlers(object):
         self.admin_handler = AdminHandler(hs)
         self.identity_handler = IdentityHandler(hs)
         self.search_handler = SearchHandler(hs)
-        self.room_context_handler = RoomContextHandler(hs)
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/room.py b/synapse/handlers/room.py
index f67512078b..6150b7e226 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/room.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/room.py
@@ -395,7 +395,11 @@ class RoomCreationHandler(BaseHandler):
             )
 
 
-class RoomContextHandler(BaseHandler):
+class RoomContextHandler(object):
+    def __init__(self, hs):
+        self.hs = hs
+        self.store = hs.get_datastore()
+
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def get_event_context(self, user, room_id, event_id, limit):
         """Retrieves events, pagination tokens and state around a given event
diff --git a/synapse/rest/client/v1/room.py b/synapse/rest/client/v1/room.py
index 8b6be9da96..2c9459534e 100644
--- a/synapse/rest/client/v1/room.py
+++ b/synapse/rest/client/v1/room.py
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ class RoomEventContextServlet(ClientV1RestServlet):
     def __init__(self, hs):
         super(RoomEventContextServlet, self).__init__(hs)
         self.clock = hs.get_clock()
-        self.handlers = hs.get_handlers()
+        self.room_context_handler = hs.get_room_context_handler()
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
     def on_GET(self, request, room_id, event_id):
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ class RoomEventContextServlet(ClientV1RestServlet):
 
         limit = parse_integer(request, "limit", default=10)
 
-        results = yield self.handlers.room_context_handler.get_event_context(
+        results = yield self.room_context_handler.get_event_context(
             requester.user,
             room_id,
             event_id,
diff --git a/synapse/server.py b/synapse/server.py
index b93bd6d7d9..a24ea158df 100644
--- a/synapse/server.py
+++ b/synapse/server.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ from synapse.handlers.presence import PresenceHandler
 from synapse.handlers.profile import ProfileHandler
 from synapse.handlers.read_marker import ReadMarkerHandler
 from synapse.handlers.receipts import ReceiptsHandler
-from synapse.handlers.room import RoomCreationHandler
+from synapse.handlers.room import RoomContextHandler, RoomCreationHandler
 from synapse.handlers.room_list import RoomListHandler
 from synapse.handlers.room_member import RoomMemberMasterHandler
 from synapse.handlers.room_member_worker import RoomMemberWorkerHandler
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ class HomeServer(object):
         'server_notices_sender',
         'message_handler',
         'pagination_handler',
+        'room_context_handler',
     ]
 
     def __init__(self, hostname, reactor=None, **kwargs):
@@ -438,6 +439,9 @@ class HomeServer(object):
     def build_pagination_handler(self):
         return PaginationHandler(self)
 
+    def build_room_context_handler(self):
+        return RoomContextHandler(self)
+
     def remove_pusher(self, app_id, push_key, user_id):
         return self.get_pusherpool().remove_pusher(app_id, push_key, user_id)