diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrix.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrix.scala
index 426dbf4805d5fea0a5598e03e23cad76097e377c..693419f827379f3893de75d126abde6527553db2 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrix.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrix.scala
@@ -232,6 +232,15 @@ class BlockMatrix(
     new DenseMatrix(m, n, values)
   }
 
+  /** Transpose this `BlockMatrix`. Returns a new `BlockMatrix` instance sharing the
+    * same underlying data. Is a lazy operation. */
+  def transpose: BlockMatrix = {
+    val transposedBlocks = blocks.map { case ((blockRowIndex, blockColIndex), mat) =>
+      ((blockColIndex, blockRowIndex), mat.transpose)
+    }
+    new BlockMatrix(transposedBlocks, colsPerBlock, rowsPerBlock, nCols, nRows)
+  }
+
   /** Collects data and assembles a local dense breeze matrix (for test only). */
   private[mllib] def toBreeze(): BDM[Double] = {
     val localMat = toLocalMatrix()
diff --git a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrixSuite.scala b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrixSuite.scala
index 7284d03d243f584b96fe0e2f53effeea857dab7b..03f34308dd09b6bed60042a6edda8ca0eaa3b11f 100644
--- a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrixSuite.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/distributed/BlockMatrixSuite.scala
@@ -146,4 +146,33 @@ class BlockMatrixSuite extends FunSuite with MLlibTestSparkContext {
     assert(gridBasedMat.toLocalMatrix() === dense)
     assert(gridBasedMat.toBreeze() === expected)
   }
+
+  test("transpose") {
+    val expected = BDM(
+      (1.0, 0.0, 3.0, 0.0, 0.0),
+      (0.0, 2.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0),
+      (0.0, 1.0, 1.0, 2.0, 1.0),
+      (0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 5.0))
+
+    val AT = gridBasedMat.transpose
+    assert(AT.numRows() === gridBasedMat.numCols())
+    assert(AT.numCols() === gridBasedMat.numRows())
+    assert(AT.toBreeze() === expected)
+
+    // partitioner must update as well
+    val originalPartitioner = gridBasedMat.partitioner
+    val ATpartitioner = AT.partitioner
+    assert(originalPartitioner.colsPerPart === ATpartitioner.rowsPerPart)
+    assert(originalPartitioner.rowsPerPart === ATpartitioner.colsPerPart)
+    assert(originalPartitioner.cols === ATpartitioner.rows)
+    assert(originalPartitioner.rows === ATpartitioner.cols)
+
+    // make sure it works when matrices are cached as well
+    gridBasedMat.cache()
+    val AT2 = gridBasedMat.transpose
+    AT2.cache()
+    assert(AT2.toBreeze() === AT.toBreeze())
+    val A = AT2.transpose
+    assert(A.toBreeze() === gridBasedMat.toBreeze())
+  }
 }