diff --git a/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js b/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js
index 80f5c43d0c..8e13f89d2d 100644
--- a/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js
+++ b/src/components/views/avatars/BaseAvatar.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /*
 Copyright 2015, 2016 OpenMarket Ltd
 Copyright 2018 New Vector Ltd
+Copyright 2019 Michael Telatynski <7t3chguy@gmail.com>
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -19,7 +20,6 @@ import React from 'react';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import { MatrixClient } from 'matrix-js-sdk';
 import AvatarLogic from '../../../Avatar';
-import sdk from '../../../index';
 import SettingsStore from "../../../settings/SettingsStore";
 import AccessibleButton from '../elements/AccessibleButton';
 
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
             );
             urls.push(defaultImageUrl); // lowest priority
         }
+
+        // deduplicate URLs
+        urls = Array.from(new Set(urls));
+
         return {
             imageUrls: urls,
             defaultImageUrl: defaultImageUrl,
@@ -129,6 +133,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
     },
 
     onError: function(ev) {
+        console.log("onError");
         const nextIndex = this.state.urlsIndex + 1;
         if (nextIndex < this.state.imageUrls.length) {
             // try the next one
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/RoomAvatarEvent.js b/src/components/views/messages/RoomAvatarEvent.js
index 72d0d1926a..17460ee183 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/RoomAvatarEvent.js
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/RoomAvatarEvent.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /*
 Copyright 2017 Vector Creations Ltd
+Copyright 2019 Michael Telatynski <7t3chguy@gmail.com>
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -17,7 +18,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 import React from 'react';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import MatrixClientPeg from '../../../MatrixClientPeg';
-import { ContentRepo } from 'matrix-js-sdk';
 import { _t } from '../../../languageHandler';
 import sdk from '../../../index';
 import Modal from '../../../Modal';
@@ -53,9 +53,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
     render: function() {
         const ev = this.props.mxEvent;
         const senderDisplayName = ev.sender && ev.sender.name ? ev.sender.name : ev.getSender();
-        const BaseAvatar = sdk.getComponent("avatars.BaseAvatar");
-
-        const room = MatrixClientPeg.get().getRoom(this.props.mxEvent.getRoomId());
+        const RoomAvatar = sdk.getComponent("avatars.RoomAvatar");
 
         if (!ev.getContent().url || ev.getContent().url.trim().length === 0) {
             return (
@@ -65,13 +63,10 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
             );
         }
 
-        const url = ContentRepo.getHttpUriForMxc(
-                    MatrixClientPeg.get().getHomeserverUrl(),
-                    ev.getContent().url,
-                    Math.ceil(14 * window.devicePixelRatio),
-                    Math.ceil(14 * window.devicePixelRatio),
-                    'crop',
-                );
+        const room = MatrixClientPeg.get().getRoom(ev.getRoomId());
+        const oobData = {
+            avatarUrl: ev.getContent().url,
+        };
 
         return (
             <div className="mx_RoomAvatarEvent">
@@ -81,7 +76,7 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
                         'img': () =>
                             <AccessibleButton key="avatar" className="mx_RoomAvatarEvent_avatar"
                                 onClick={this.onAvatarClick}>
-                                <BaseAvatar width={14} height={14} url={url} name={room ? room.name : ''} />
+                                <RoomAvatar width={14} height={14} room={room} oobData={oobData} />
                             </AccessibleButton>,
                     })
                 }