diff --git a/Eigen/src/Core/Block.h b/Eigen/src/Core/Block.h
index 6ef26ca7d..31cd094db 100644
--- a/Eigen/src/Core/Block.h
+++ b/Eigen/src/Core/Block.h
@@ -17,9 +17,10 @@
 namespace Eigen {
 
 namespace internal {
-template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel>
-struct traits<Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel> > : traits<XprType>
+template<typename XprType_, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel_>
+struct traits<Block<XprType_, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel_> > : traits<XprType_>
 {
+  typedef XprType_ XprType;
   typedef typename traits<XprType>::Scalar Scalar;
   typedef typename traits<XprType>::StorageKind StorageKind;
   typedef typename traits<XprType>::XprKind XprKind;
@@ -53,12 +54,13 @@ struct traits<Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel> > : traits<XprTyp
     // FIXME, this traits is rather specialized for dense object and it needs to be cleaned further
     FlagsLvalueBit = is_lvalue<XprType>::value ? LvalueBit : 0,
     FlagsRowMajorBit = IsRowMajor ? RowMajorBit : 0,
-    Flags = (traits<XprType>::Flags & (DirectAccessBit | (InnerPanel?CompressedAccessBit:0))) | FlagsLvalueBit | FlagsRowMajorBit,
+    Flags = (traits<XprType>::Flags & (DirectAccessBit | (InnerPanel_?CompressedAccessBit:0))) | FlagsLvalueBit | FlagsRowMajorBit,
     // FIXME DirectAccessBit should not be handled by expressions
     //
     // Alignment is needed by MapBase's assertions
     // We can sefely set it to false here. Internal alignment errors will be detected by an eigen_internal_assert in the respective evaluator
-    Alignment = 0
+    Alignment = 0,
+    InnerPanel = InnerPanel_ ? 1 : 0
   };
 };
 
@@ -107,6 +109,7 @@ template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel> class
   : public BlockImpl<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel, typename internal::traits<XprType>::StorageKind>
 {
     typedef BlockImpl<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel, typename internal::traits<XprType>::StorageKind> Impl;
+    using BlockHelper = internal::block_xpr_helper<Block>;
   public:
     //typedef typename Impl::Base Base;
     typedef Impl Base;
@@ -149,9 +152,25 @@ template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel> class
       eigen_assert(startRow >= 0 && blockRows >= 0 && startRow  <= xpr.rows() - blockRows
           && startCol >= 0 && blockCols >= 0 && startCol <= xpr.cols() - blockCols);
     }
+
+    // convert nested blocks (e.g. Block<Block<MatrixType>>) to a simple block expression (Block<MatrixType>)
+
+    using ConstUnwindReturnType = Block<const typename BlockHelper::BaseType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>;
+    using UnwindReturnType = Block<typename BlockHelper::BaseType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>;
+
+    EIGEN_DEVICE_FUNC EIGEN_STRONG_INLINE ConstUnwindReturnType unwind() const {
+      return ConstUnwindReturnType(BlockHelper::base(*this), BlockHelper::row(*this, 0), BlockHelper::col(*this, 0),
+                                   this->rows(), this->cols());
+    }
+
+    template <typename T = Block, typename EnableIf = std::enable_if_t<!std::is_const<T>::value>>
+    EIGEN_DEVICE_FUNC EIGEN_STRONG_INLINE UnwindReturnType unwind() {
+      return UnwindReturnType(BlockHelper::base(*this), BlockHelper::row(*this, 0), BlockHelper::col(*this, 0),
+                              this->rows(), this->cols());
+    }
 };
 
-// The generic default implementation for dense block simplu forward to the internal::BlockImpl_dense
+// The generic default implementation for dense block simply forward to the internal::BlockImpl_dense
 // that must be specialized for direct and non-direct access...
 template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel>
 class BlockImpl<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel, Dense>
diff --git a/Eigen/src/Core/util/XprHelper.h b/Eigen/src/Core/util/XprHelper.h
index dc2b194c7..bb382a7b5 100644
--- a/Eigen/src/Core/util/XprHelper.h
+++ b/Eigen/src/Core/util/XprHelper.h
@@ -809,6 +809,54 @@ std::string demangle_flags(int f)
 }
 #endif
 
+template<typename XprType>
+struct is_block_xpr : std::false_type {};
+
+template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel>
+struct is_block_xpr<Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>> : std::true_type {};
+
+template <typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel>
+struct is_block_xpr<const Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>> : std::true_type {};
+
+// Helper utility for constructing non-recursive block expressions.
+template<typename XprType>
+struct block_xpr_helper {
+  using BaseType = XprType;
+
+  // For regular block expressions, simply forward along the InnerPanel argument,
+  // which is set when calling row/column expressions.
+  static constexpr bool is_inner_panel(bool inner_panel) { return inner_panel; };
+  
+  // Only enable non-const base function if XprType is not const (otherwise we get a duplicate definition).
+  template<typename T = XprType, typename EnableIf=std::enable_if_t<!std::is_const<T>::value>>
+  static EIGEN_DEVICE_FUNC EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE BaseType& base(XprType& xpr) { return xpr; }
+  static EIGEN_DEVICE_FUNC EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE const BaseType& base(const XprType& xpr) { return xpr; }
+  static constexpr EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE Index row(const XprType& /*xpr*/, Index r) { return r; }
+  static constexpr EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE Index col(const XprType& /*xpr*/, Index c) { return c; }
+};
+
+template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel>
+struct block_xpr_helper<Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>> {
+  using BlockXprType = Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>;
+  // Recursive helper in case of explicit block-of-block expression.
+  using NestedXprHelper = block_xpr_helper<XprType>;
+  using BaseType = typename NestedXprHelper::BaseType;
+ 
+  // For block-of-block expressions, we need to combine the InnerPannel trait
+  // with that of the block subexpression.
+  static constexpr bool is_inner_panel(bool inner_panel) { return InnerPanel && inner_panel; }
+
+  // Only enable non-const base function if XprType is not const (otherwise we get a duplicates definition).
+  template<typename T = XprType, typename EnableIf=std::enable_if_t<!std::is_const<T>::value>>
+  static EIGEN_DEVICE_FUNC EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE BaseType& base(BlockXprType& xpr) { return NestedXprHelper::base(xpr.nestedExpression()); }
+  static EIGEN_DEVICE_FUNC EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE const BaseType& base(const BlockXprType& xpr) { return NestedXprHelper::base(xpr.nestedExpression()); }
+  static constexpr EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE Index row(const BlockXprType& xpr, Index r) { return xpr.startRow() + NestedXprHelper::row(xpr.nestedExpression(), r); }
+  static constexpr EIGEN_ALWAYS_INLINE Index col(const BlockXprType& xpr, Index c) { return xpr.startCol() + NestedXprHelper::col(xpr.nestedExpression(), c); }
+};
+
+template<typename XprType, int BlockRows, int BlockCols, bool InnerPanel>
+struct block_xpr_helper<const Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>> : block_xpr_helper<Block<XprType, BlockRows, BlockCols, InnerPanel>> {};
+
 } // end namespace internal
 
 
diff --git a/test/block.cpp b/test/block.cpp
index aba089629..867b76952 100644
--- a/test/block.cpp
+++ b/test/block.cpp
@@ -306,6 +306,43 @@ void data_and_stride(const MatrixType& m)
   compare_using_data_and_stride(m1.col(c1).transpose());
 }
 
+
+template <typename BaseXpr, typename Xpr = BaseXpr, int Depth = 0>
+struct unwind_test_impl {
+  static void run(Xpr& xpr) {
+    Index startRow = internal::random<Index>(0, xpr.rows() / 5);
+    Index startCol = internal::random<Index>(0, xpr.cols() / 6);
+    Index rows = xpr.rows() / 3;
+    Index cols = xpr.cols() / 2;
+    // test equivalence of const expressions
+    const Block<const Xpr> constNestedBlock(xpr, startRow, startCol, rows, cols);
+    const Block<const BaseXpr> constUnwoundBlock = constNestedBlock.unwind();
+    VERIFY_IS_CWISE_EQUAL(constNestedBlock, constUnwoundBlock);
+    // modify a random element in each representation and test equivalence of non-const expressions
+    Block<Xpr> nestedBlock(xpr, startRow, startCol, rows, cols);
+    Block<BaseXpr> unwoundBlock = nestedBlock.unwind();
+    Index r1 = internal::random<Index>(0, rows - 1);
+    Index c1 = internal::random<Index>(0, cols - 1);
+    Index r2 = internal::random<Index>(0, rows - 1);
+    Index c2 = internal::random<Index>(0, cols - 1);
+    nestedBlock.coeffRef(r1, c1) = internal::random<typename DenseBase<Xpr>::Scalar>();
+    unwoundBlock.coeffRef(r2, c2) = internal::random<typename DenseBase<Xpr>::Scalar>();
+    VERIFY_IS_CWISE_EQUAL(nestedBlock, unwoundBlock);
+    unwind_test_impl<BaseXpr, Block<Xpr>, Depth + 1>::run(nestedBlock);
+  }
+};
+
+template <typename BaseXpr, typename Xpr>
+struct unwind_test_impl<BaseXpr, Xpr, 4> {
+  static void run(const Xpr&) {}
+};
+
+template <typename BaseXpr>
+void unwind_test(const BaseXpr&) {
+  BaseXpr xpr = BaseXpr::Random(100, 100);
+  unwind_test_impl<BaseXpr>::run(xpr);
+}
+
 EIGEN_DECLARE_TEST(block)
 {
   for(int i = 0; i < g_repeat; i++) {
@@ -320,6 +357,7 @@ EIGEN_DECLARE_TEST(block)
     CALL_SUBTEST_7( block(Matrix<int,Dynamic,Dynamic,RowMajor>(internal::random(2,50), internal::random(2,50))) );
 
     CALL_SUBTEST_8( block(Matrix<float,Dynamic,4>(3, 4)) );
+    CALL_SUBTEST_9( unwind_test(MatrixXf()));
 
 #ifndef EIGEN_DEFAULT_TO_ROW_MAJOR
     CALL_SUBTEST_6( data_and_stride(MatrixXf(internal::random(5,50), internal::random(5,50))) );