diff --git a/jupyterhub/app.py b/jupyterhub/app.py
index 8e5b3df1..2088aae7 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/app.py
@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
         should be accessed by users.
 
         .. deprecated: 0.9
+            Use JupyterHub.bind_url
         """
     ).tag(config=True)
 
@@ -330,26 +331,6 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
         """
     ).tag(config=True)
 
-    @observe('ip', 'port')
-    def _ip_port_changed(self, change):
-        urlinfo = urlparse(self.bind_url)
-        urlinfo = urlinfo._replace(netloc='%s:%i' % (self.ip, self.port))
-        self.bind_url = urlunparse(urlinfo)
-
-    bind_url = Unicode(
-        "http://127.0.0.1:8000",
-        help="""The public facing URL of the whole JupyterHub application.
-
-        This is the address on which the proxy will bind.
-        Sets protocol, ip, base_url
-        """
-    ).tag(config=True)
-
-    @observe('bind_url')
-    def _bind_url_changed(self, change):
-        urlinfo = urlparse(change.new)
-        self.base_url = urlinfo.path
-
     base_url = URLPrefix('/',
         help="""The base URL of the entire application.
 
@@ -366,6 +347,25 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
         # call validate to ensure leading/trailing slashes
         return JupyterHub.base_url.validate(self, urlparse(self.bind_url).path)
 
+    @observe('ip', 'port', 'base_url')
+    def _url_part_changed(self, change):
+        """propagate deprecated ip/port/base_url config to the bind_url"""
+        urlinfo = urlparse(self.bind_url)
+        urlinfo = urlinfo._replace(netloc='%s:%i' % (self.ip, self.port))
+        urlinfo = urlinfo._replace(path=self.base_url)
+        bind_url = urlunparse(urlinfo)
+        if bind_url != self.bind_url:
+            self.bind_url = bind_url
+
+    bind_url = Unicode(
+        "http://127.0.0.1:8000",
+        help="""The public facing URL of the whole JupyterHub application.
+
+        This is the address on which the proxy will bind.
+        Sets protocol, ip, base_url
+        """
+    ).tag(config=True)
+
     subdomain_host = Unicode('',
         help="""Run single-user servers on subdomains of this host.
 
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
index 8637ce2f..d18adde4 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_app.py
@@ -8,19 +8,22 @@ from subprocess import check_output, Popen, PIPE
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile, TemporaryDirectory
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
-from tornado import gen
 import pytest
+from tornado import gen
+from traitlets.config import Config
 
 from .mocking import MockHub
 from .test_api import add_user
 from .. import orm
-from ..app import COOKIE_SECRET_BYTES
+from ..app import COOKIE_SECRET_BYTES, JupyterHub
+
 
 def test_help_all():
     out = check_output([sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub', '--help-all']).decode('utf8', 'replace')
     assert '--ip' in out
     assert '--JupyterHub.ip' in out
 
+
 def test_token_app():
     cmd = [sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub', 'token']
     out = check_output(cmd + ['--help-all']).decode('utf8', 'replace')
@@ -30,6 +33,7 @@ def test_token_app():
         out = check_output(cmd + ['user'], cwd=td).decode('utf8', 'replace').strip()
     assert re.match(r'^[a-z0-9]+$', out)
 
+
 def test_generate_config():
     with NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='jupyterhub_config', suffix='.py') as tf:
         cfg_file = tf.name
@@ -218,3 +222,41 @@ def test_resume_spawners(tmpdir, request):
     assert not user.running
     assert user.spawner.server is None
     assert list(db.query(orm.Server)) == []
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'hub_config, expected',
+    [
+        (
+            {'ip': '0.0.0.0'},
+            {'bind_url': 'http://0.0.0.0:8000/'},
+        ),
+        (
+            {'port': 123, 'base_url': '/prefix'},
+            {
+                'bind_url': 'http://:123/prefix/',
+                'base_url': '/prefix/',
+            },
+        ),
+        (
+            {'bind_url': 'http://0.0.0.0:12345/sub'},
+            {'base_url': '/sub/'},
+        ),
+    ]
+)
+def test_url_config(hub_config, expected):
+    # construct the config object
+    cfg = Config()
+    for key, value in hub_config.items():
+        cfg.JupyterHub[key] = value
+
+    # instantiate the Hub and load config
+    app = JupyterHub(config=cfg)
+    # validate config
+    for key, value in hub_config.items():
+        if key not in expected:
+            assert getattr(app, key) == value
+
+    # validate additional properties
+    for key, value in expected.items():
+        assert getattr(app, key) == value