diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index aefd0b61..b26530f3 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
  * No longer include Sinatra::Delegator in Object, instead extend the main
    object only. (Konstantin Haase)
 
+ * Add :status option support to send_file. (Konstantin Haase)
+
  * Exception#code is only used when :use_code is enabled and displays a warning.
    Moreover, it will be ignored if the value is not between 400 and 599. You
    should use Exception#http_status instead. (Konstantin Haase)
diff --git a/README.rdoc b/README.rdoc
index 90ba76f8..0a8e8a9e 100644
--- a/README.rdoc
+++ b/README.rdoc
@@ -1070,6 +1070,9 @@ The options are:
 [length]
   Content-Length header, defaults to file size.
 
+[status]
+  Status code to be send. Useful when sending a static file as an error page.
+
 If supported by the Rack handler, other means than streaming from the Ruby
 process will be used. If you use this helper method, Sinatra will automatically
 handle range requests.
diff --git a/lib/sinatra/base.rb b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
index 9731ef3c..11fd038e 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra/base.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ module Sinatra
       file.path = path
       result    = file.serving env
       result[1].each { |k,v| headers[k] ||= v }
-      halt result[0], result[2]
+      halt opts[:status] || result[0], result[2]
     rescue Errno::ENOENT
       not_found
     end
diff --git a/test/helpers_test.rb b/test/helpers_test.rb
index 42d1f9a1..f0bd7de1 100644
--- a/test/helpers_test.rb
+++ b/test/helpers_test.rb
@@ -729,6 +729,12 @@ class HelpersTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       assert_equal 'attachment; filename="foo.txt"', response['Content-Disposition']
     end
 
+    it 'allows setting a custom status code' do
+      send_file_app :status => 201
+      get '/file.txt'
+      assert_status 201
+    end
+
     it "is able to send files with unkown mime type" do
       @file = File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/file.foobar'
       File.open(@file, 'wb') { |io| io.write('Hello World') }