diff --git a/IPython/html/notebookapp.py b/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
index ec46c47c6..efc79f8d1 100644
--- a/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
+++ b/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ from .services.notebooks.nbmanager import NotebookManager
 from .services.notebooks.filenbmanager import FileNotebookManager
 from .services.clusters.clustermanager import ClusterManager
 from .services.sessions.sessionmanager import SessionManager
-from .services.contents.contentmanager import ContentManager
 
 from .base.handlers import AuthenticatedFileHandler, FileFindHandler
 
@@ -129,19 +128,19 @@ def load_handlers(name):
 class NotebookWebApplication(web.Application):
 
     def __init__(self, ipython_app, kernel_manager, notebook_manager,
-                 cluster_manager, session_manager, content_manager, log,
-                 base_project_url, settings_overrides):
+                 cluster_manager, session_manager, log, base_project_url,
+                 settings_overrides):
 
         settings = self.init_settings(
             ipython_app, kernel_manager, notebook_manager, cluster_manager,
-            session_manager, content_manager, log, base_project_url, settings_overrides)
+            session_manager, log, base_project_url, settings_overrides)
         handlers = self.init_handlers(settings)
 
         super(NotebookWebApplication, self).__init__(handlers, **settings)
 
     def init_settings(self, ipython_app, kernel_manager, notebook_manager,
-                      cluster_manager, session_manager, content_manager, log,
-                      base_project_url, settings_overrides):
+                      cluster_manager, session_manager, log, base_project_url,
+                      settings_overrides):
         # Python < 2.6.5 doesn't accept unicode keys in f(**kwargs), and
         # base_project_url will always be unicode, which will in turn
         # make the patterns unicode, and ultimately result in unicode
@@ -171,7 +170,6 @@ class NotebookWebApplication(web.Application):
             notebook_manager=notebook_manager,
             cluster_manager=cluster_manager,
             session_manager=session_manager,
-            content_manager=content_manager,
 
             # IPython stuff
             nbextensions_path = ipython_app.nbextensions_path,
@@ -197,7 +195,6 @@ class NotebookWebApplication(web.Application):
         handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.notebooks.handlers'))
         handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.clusters.handlers'))
         handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.sessions.handlers'))
-        handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.contents.handlers'))
         handlers.extend([
             (r"/files/(.*)", AuthenticatedFileHandler, {'path' : settings['notebook_manager'].notebook_dir}),
             (r"/nbextensions/(.*)", FileFindHandler, {'path' : settings['nbextensions_path']}),
@@ -534,7 +531,6 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
         self.notebook_manager = kls(parent=self, log=self.log)
         self.notebook_manager.load_notebook_names('')
         self.session_manager = SessionManager(parent=self, log=self.log)
-        self.content_manager = ContentManager(parent=self, log=self.log)
         self.cluster_manager = ClusterManager(parent=self, log=self.log)
         self.cluster_manager.update_profiles()
 
@@ -552,7 +548,7 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
         """initialize tornado webapp and httpserver"""
         self.web_app = NotebookWebApplication(
             self, self.kernel_manager, self.notebook_manager, 
-            self.cluster_manager, self.session_manager, self.content_manager, 
+            self.cluster_manager, self.session_manager,
             self.log, self.base_project_url, self.webapp_settings
         )
         if self.certfile:
diff --git a/IPython/html/services/contents/handlers.py b/IPython/html/services/contents/handlers.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 8f444cdff..000000000
--- a/IPython/html/services/contents/handlers.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
-"""Tornado handlers for the contents web service.
-
-Authors:
-
-* Zach Sailer
-"""
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#  Copyright (C) 2013  The IPython Development Team
-#
-#  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
-#  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Imports
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-from tornado import web
-
-from zmq.utils import jsonapi
-
-from IPython.utils.jsonutil import date_default
-
-from ...base.handlers import IPythonHandler
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Contents web service handlers
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-class ContentRootHandler(IPythonHandler):
-
-    @web.authenticated
-    def get(self):
-        cm = self.content_manager
-        contents = cm.list_contents("")
-        self.finish(jsonapi.dumps(contents))
-        
-
-class ContentHandler(IPythonHandler):
-
-    @web.authenticated
-    def get(self, content_path):
-        cm = self.content_manager
-        contents = cm.list_contents(content_path)
-        self.finish(jsonapi.dumps(contents))
-
-    @web.authenticated
-    def delete(self, content_path):
-        cm = self.content_manager
-        cm.delete_content(content_path)
-        self.set_status(204)
-        self.finish()
-
-class ServicesRedirectHandler(IPythonHandler):
-    
-    @web.authenticated
-    def get(self):
-        url = self.base_project_url + 'api'
-        self.redirect(url)
-
-class ServicesHandler(IPythonHandler):
-    
-    @web.authenticated
-    def get(self):
-        services = ['contents', 'notebooks', 'sessions', 'kernels', 'clusters']
-        self.finish(jsonapi.dumps(services))
-
-
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# URL to handler mappings
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-_content_path_regex = r"(?P<content_path>.+)"
-
-default_handlers = [
-    (r"api/contents/%s" % _content_path_regex, ContentHandler),
-    (r"api/contents",  ContentRootHandler),
-    (r"api/", ServicesRedirectHandler),
-    (r"api", ServicesHandler)
-    
-]
-
-