diff --git a/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Drivers/ContentPartElementDriver.cs b/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Drivers/ContentPartElementDriver.cs
index 3c117bda1..dd8c5c6db 100644
--- a/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Drivers/ContentPartElementDriver.cs
+++ b/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Drivers/ContentPartElementDriver.cs
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ namespace Orchard.Layouts.Drivers {
         }
 
         protected override void OnDisplaying(ContentPart element, ElementDisplayContext context) {
+            // Content is optional context, so if it's null, we can't render the part element.
+            // This typically only happens when the layout editor is used outside the context of
+            // a content item and still renders the various content part elements as part of the toolbox.
+            if (context.Content == null)
+                return;
+
             var contentItem = context.Content.ContentItem;
             var contentPartName = (string)element.Descriptor.StateBag["ElementTypeName"];
             var contentPart = contentItem.Parts.FirstOrDefault(x => x.PartDefinition.Name == contentPartName);
diff --git a/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.Design.cshtml b/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.Design.cshtml
index b77a02d06..4aa9a867a 100644
--- a/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.Design.cshtml
+++ b/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.Design.cshtml
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-@Display(Model.Content)
\ No newline at end of file
+@if (Model.Content != null) {
+    @Display(Model.Content)
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.cshtml b/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.cshtml
index a2e8a5985..ae463b484 100644
--- a/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.cshtml
+++ b/src/Orchard.Web/Modules/Orchard.Layouts/Views/Elements/ContentPart.cshtml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 @{
     var tagBuilder = TagBuilderExtensions.AddCommonElementAttributes(new OrchardTagBuilder("div"), Model);
 }
-@tagBuilder.StartElement
-@Display(Model.Content)
-@tagBuilder.EndElement
\ No newline at end of file
+@if (Model.Content != null) {
+    @tagBuilder.StartElement
+    @Display(Model.Content)
+    @tagBuilder.EndElement
+}
\ No newline at end of file