diff --git a/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c b/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c
index da01c7b307..2310131ea3 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/tablespace.c
@@ -603,40 +603,36 @@ 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.