diff --git a/src/librustc/middle/astencode.rs b/src/librustc/middle/astencode.rs
index 1ea632d9618f..b6061f39233d 100644
--- a/src/librustc/middle/astencode.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/middle/astencode.rs
@@ -1197,7 +1197,7 @@ fn encode_side_tables_for_id(ecx: &e::EncodeContext,
         })
     }
 
-    if let Some(ty) = tcx.node_types.borrow().get(&id) {
+    if let Some(ty) = tcx.node_types().get(&id) {
         rbml_w.tag(c::tag_table_node_type, |rbml_w| {
             rbml_w.id(id);
             rbml_w.emit_ty(ecx, *ty);
@@ -1884,7 +1884,7 @@ fn decode_side_tables(dcx: &DecodeContext,
                         let ty = val_dsr.read_ty(dcx);
                         debug!("inserting ty for node {}: {}",
                                id, ty_to_string(dcx.tcx, ty));
-                        dcx.tcx.node_types.borrow_mut().insert(id, ty);
+                        dcx.tcx.node_type_insert(id, ty);
                     }
                     c::tag_table_item_subst => {
                         let item_substs = ty::ItemSubsts {
diff --git a/src/librustc/middle/ty.rs b/src/librustc/middle/ty.rs
index 2130ec4eb633..2bfc9689ac2f 100644
--- a/src/librustc/middle/ty.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/middle/ty.rs
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ use util::nodemap::FnvHashMap;
 
 use arena::TypedArena;
 use std::borrow::{Borrow, Cow};
-use std::cell::{Cell, RefCell};
+use std::cell::{Cell, RefCell, Ref};
 use std::cmp;
 use std::fmt;
 use std::hash::{Hash, SipHasher, Hasher};
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ pub struct ctxt<'tcx> {
     /// Stores the types for various nodes in the AST.  Note that this table
     /// is not guaranteed to be populated until after typeck.  See
     /// typeck::check::fn_ctxt for details.
-    pub node_types: RefCell<NodeMap<Ty<'tcx>>>,
+    node_types: RefCell<NodeMap<Ty<'tcx>>>,
 
     /// Stores the type parameters which were substituted to obtain the type
     /// of this node.  This only applies to nodes that refer to entities
@@ -854,6 +854,13 @@ pub struct ctxt<'tcx> {
     pub const_qualif_map: RefCell<NodeMap<check_const::ConstQualif>>,
 }
 
+impl<'tcx> ctxt<'tcx> {
+    pub fn node_types(&self) -> Ref<NodeMap<Ty<'tcx>>> { self.node_types.borrow() }
+    pub fn node_type_insert(&self, id: NodeId, ty: Ty<'tcx>) {
+        self.node_types.borrow_mut().insert(id, ty);
+    }
+}
+
 // Flags that we track on types. These flags are propagated upwards
 // through the type during type construction, so that we can quickly
 // check whether the type has various kinds of types in it without
diff --git a/src/librustc_trans/save/mod.rs b/src/librustc_trans/save/mod.rs
index a415875d852c..26fcf947e4f9 100644
--- a/src/librustc_trans/save/mod.rs
+++ b/src/librustc_trans/save/mod.rs
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ impl <'l, 'tcx> DxrVisitor<'l, 'tcx> {
                 let typ =
                     ppaux::ty_to_string(
                         &self.analysis.ty_cx,
-                        *self.analysis.ty_cx.node_types.borrow().get(&id).unwrap());
+                        *self.analysis.ty_cx.node_types().get(&id).unwrap());
                 // get the span only for the name of the variable (I hope the path is only ever a
                 // variable name, but who knows?)
                 self.fmt.formal_str(p.span,
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ impl <'l, 'tcx> DxrVisitor<'l, 'tcx> {
                 let typ =
                     ppaux::ty_to_string(
                         &self.analysis.ty_cx,
-                        *self.analysis.ty_cx.node_types.borrow().get(&field.node.id).unwrap());
+                        *self.analysis.ty_cx.node_types().get(&field.node.id).unwrap());
                 match self.span.sub_span_before_token(field.span, token::Colon) {
                     Some(sub_span) => self.fmt.field_str(field.span,
                                                          Some(sub_span),
@@ -1471,7 +1471,7 @@ impl<'l, 'tcx, 'v> Visitor<'v> for DxrVisitor<'l, 'tcx> {
 
         for &(id, ref p, ref immut, _) in &self.collected_paths {
             let value = if *immut { value.to_string() } else { "<mutable>".to_string() };
-            let types = self.analysis.ty_cx.node_types.borrow();
+            let types = self.analysis.ty_cx.node_types();
             let typ = ppaux::ty_to_string(&self.analysis.ty_cx, *types.get(&id).unwrap());
             // Get the span only for the name of the variable (I hope the path
             // is only ever a variable name, but who knows?).
diff --git a/src/librustc_trans/trans/debuginfo.rs b/src/librustc_trans/trans/debuginfo.rs
index f2c24501c66c..8e9ae2eba0bc 100644
--- a/src/librustc_trans/trans/debuginfo.rs
+++ b/src/librustc_trans/trans/debuginfo.rs
@@ -3207,7 +3207,7 @@ fn fn_should_be_ignored(fcx: &FunctionContext) -> bool {
 fn assert_type_for_node_id(cx: &CrateContext,
                            node_id: ast::NodeId,
                            error_reporting_span: Span) {
-    if !cx.tcx().node_types.borrow().contains_key(&node_id) {
+    if !cx.tcx().node_types().contains_key(&node_id) {
         cx.sess().span_bug(error_reporting_span,
                            "debuginfo: Could not find type for node id!");
     }
diff --git a/src/librustc_typeck/lib.rs b/src/librustc_typeck/lib.rs
index 91410fa808c7..9d6c04b1ad49 100644
--- a/src/librustc_typeck/lib.rs
+++ b/src/librustc_typeck/lib.rs
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ pub struct CrateCtxt<'a, 'tcx: 'a> {
 fn write_ty_to_tcx<'tcx>(tcx: &ty::ctxt<'tcx>, node_id: ast::NodeId, ty: Ty<'tcx>) {
     debug!("write_ty_to_tcx({}, {})", node_id, ppaux::ty_to_string(tcx, ty));
     assert!(!ty::type_needs_infer(ty));
-    tcx.node_types.borrow_mut().insert(node_id, ty);
+    tcx.node_type_insert(node_id, ty);
 }
 
 fn write_substs_to_tcx<'tcx>(tcx: &ty::ctxt<'tcx>,