diff --git a/client/src/run-server.js b/client/src/run-server.js
index b970f356..c66ec25b 100644
--- a/client/src/run-server.js
+++ b/client/src/run-server.js
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ export default function render(pathname, args='', body, locals={}, cb) {
     cb(null, data || {
       html: lastHtml
     , title: lastState.title
-    , status: lastState.view == 'notFound' ? 404 : lastState.error ? 400 : 200
+    , status: lastState.view == 'notFound' ? 404
+            : lastState.view == 'error' ? lastState.error.status || 400
+            : 200
     })
   }
 
diff --git a/client/src/util.js b/client/src/util.js
index 9ef9eadb..0f944a17 100644
--- a/client/src/util.js
+++ b/client/src/util.js
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ export const dropErrors = r$$ => r$$.switchMap(r$ => r$.catch(_ => O.empty()))
 
 export const extractErrors = r$$ =>
   r$$.flatMap(r$ => r$.flatMap(_ => O.empty()).catch(err => O.of(err)))
-    .map(e => e.response && e.status != 502 ? parseError(e.response) : e)
+    .map(e => e.response ? responseError(e.response) : e)
 
 // Create a stream that ticks every `ms`, but only when the window is focused.
 // Returns an empty stream in the server-side pre-renderer environment.
@@ -126,10 +126,12 @@ export const tickWhileFocused = ms =>
 export const tickWhileViewing = (ms, view, view$) =>
   tickWhileFocused(ms).withLatestFrom(view$).filter(([ _, shown_view ]) => shown_view == view)
 
-const parseError = res =>
-  (res.body && Object.keys(res.body).length)
-  ? res.body.message || res.body
-  : res.text
+const responseError = res => ({
+  status: res.status,
+  message: (res.body && Object.keys(res.body).length)
+    ? res.body.message || res.body
+    : res.text
+})
 
 export const dbg = (obj, label='stream', dbg=debug(label)) =>
   Object.keys(obj).forEach(k => obj[k] && obj[k].subscribe(
diff --git a/client/src/views/error.js b/client/src/views/error.js
index 91e0d43d..b252ebcf 100644
--- a/client/src/views/error.js
+++ b/client/src/views/error.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const formatError = err =>
 ? 'We encountered an error. Please try again later.'
 : (err.status && err.status === 502)
 ? 'Esplora is currently unavailable, please try again later.'
-: err.toString()
+: (err.message || err.toString())
 
 export const error = ({ t, error, ...S }) => layout(<div>
     <div className="container text-center"><h1>{ t(formatError(error)) }</h1></div>