diff --git a/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c b/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c
index 69ea155d502..5411638696b 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c
@@ -616,40 +616,36 @@ create_tablespace_directories(const char *location, const Oid tablespaceoid)
 							location)));
 	}
 
-	if (InRecovery)
-	{
-		/*
-		 * Our theory for replaying a CREATE is to forcibly drop the target
-		 * subdirectory if present, and then recreate it. This may be more
-		 * work than needed, but it is simple to implement.
-		 */
-		if (stat(location_with_version_dir, &st) == 0 && S_ISDIR(st.st_mode))
-		{
-			if (!rmtree(location_with_version_dir, true))
-				/* If this failed, MakePGDirectory() below is going to error. */
-				ereport(WARNING,
-						(errmsg("some useless files may be left behind in old database directory \"%s\"",
-								location_with_version_dir)));
-		}
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * The creation of the version directory prevents more than one tablespace
-	 * in a single location.
+	 * in a single location.  This imitates TablespaceCreateDbspace(), but it
+	 * ignores concurrency and missing parent directories.  The chmod() would
+	 * have failed in the absence of a parent.  pg_tablespace_spcname_index
+	 * prevents concurrency.
 	 */
-	if (MakePGDirectory(location_with_version_dir) < 0)
+	if (stat(location_with_version_dir, &st) < 0)
 	{
-		if (errno == EEXIST)
+		if (errno != ENOENT)
 			ereport(ERROR,
-					(errcode(ERRCODE_OBJECT_IN_USE),
-					 errmsg("directory \"%s\" already in use as a tablespace",
+					(errcode_for_file_access(),
+					 errmsg("could not stat directory \"%s\": %m",
 							location_with_version_dir)));
-		else
+		else if (MakePGDirectory(location_with_version_dir) < 0)
 			ereport(ERROR,
 					(errcode_for_file_access(),
 					 errmsg("could not create directory \"%s\": %m",
 							location_with_version_dir)));
 	}
+	else if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode))
+		ereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_WRONG_OBJECT_TYPE),
+				 errmsg("\"%s\" exists but is not a directory",
+						location_with_version_dir)));
+	else if (!InRecovery)
+		ereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_OBJECT_IN_USE),
+				 errmsg("directory \"%s\" already in use as a tablespace",
+						location_with_version_dir)));
 
 	/*
 	 * In recovery, remove old symlink, in case it points to the wrong place.
diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/018_wal_optimize.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/018_wal_optimize.pl
index 53d9864309f..7f52fe2e950 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/018_wal_optimize.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/018_wal_optimize.pl
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ use warnings;
 
 use PostgresNode;
 use TestLib;
-use Test::More tests => 34;
+use Test::More tests => 38;
 
 sub check_orphan_relfilenodes
 {
@@ -59,8 +59,31 @@ wal_skip_threshold = 0
 	my $tablespace_dir = $node->basedir . '/tablespace_other';
 	mkdir($tablespace_dir);
 	$tablespace_dir = TestLib::perl2host($tablespace_dir);
-	$node->safe_psql('postgres',
-		"CREATE TABLESPACE other LOCATION '$tablespace_dir';");
+	my $result;
+
+	# Test redo of CREATE TABLESPACE.
+	$node->safe_psql(
+		'postgres', "
+		CREATE TABLE moved (id int);
+		INSERT INTO moved VALUES (1);
+		CREATE TABLESPACE other LOCATION '$tablespace_dir';
+		BEGIN;
+		ALTER TABLE moved SET TABLESPACE other;
+		CREATE TABLE originated (id int);
+		INSERT INTO originated VALUES (1);
+		CREATE UNIQUE INDEX ON originated(id) TABLESPACE other;
+		COMMIT;");
+	$node->stop('immediate');
+	$node->start;
+	$result = $node->safe_psql('postgres', "SELECT count(*) FROM moved;");
+	is($result, qq(1), "wal_level = $wal_level, CREATE+SET TABLESPACE");
+	$result = $node->safe_psql(
+		'postgres', "
+		INSERT INTO originated VALUES (1) ON CONFLICT (id)
+		  DO UPDATE set id = originated.id + 1
+		  RETURNING id;");
+	is($result, qq(2),
+		"wal_level = $wal_level, CREATE TABLESPACE, CREATE INDEX");
 
 	# Test direct truncation optimization.  No tuples.
 	$node->safe_psql(
@@ -71,7 +94,7 @@ wal_skip_threshold = 0
 		COMMIT;");
 	$node->stop('immediate');
 	$node->start;
-	my $result = $node->safe_psql('postgres', "SELECT count(*) FROM trunc;");
+	$result = $node->safe_psql('postgres', "SELECT count(*) FROM trunc;");
 	is($result, qq(0), "wal_level = $wal_level, TRUNCATE with empty table");
 
 	# Test truncation with inserted tuples within the same transaction.