diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPart.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPart.cs
index 12d251c725..6426753d4b 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPart.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPart.cs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Reflection;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel;
 
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ApplicationParts
     /// <summary>
     /// An <see cref="ApplicationPart"/> backed by an <see cref="Assembly"/>.
     /// </summary>
-    public class AssemblyPart : ApplicationPart, IApplicationPartTypeProvider, ICompilationLibrariesProvider
+    public class AssemblyPart : ApplicationPart, IApplicationPartTypeProvider, ICompilationReferencesProvider
     {
         /// <summary>
         /// Initalizes a new <see cref="AssemblyPart"/> instance.
@@ -41,15 +42,19 @@ public AssemblyPart(Assembly assembly)
         public IEnumerable<TypeInfo> Types => Assembly.DefinedTypes;
 
         /// <inheritdoc />
-        public IReadOnlyList<CompilationLibrary> GetCompilationLibraries()
+        public IEnumerable<string> GetReferencePaths()
         {
             var dependencyContext = DependencyContext.Load(Assembly);
             if (dependencyContext != null)
             {
-                return dependencyContext.CompileLibraries;
+                return dependencyContext.CompileLibraries.SelectMany(library => library.ResolveReferencePaths());
             }
 
-            return new CompilationLibrary[0];
+            // If an application has been compiled without preserveCompilationContext, return the path to the assembly
+            // as a reference. For runtime compilation, this will allow the compilation to succeed as long as it least
+            // one application part has been compiled with preserveCompilationContext and contains a super set of types
+            // required for the compilation to succeed.
+            return new[] { Assembly.Location };
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/ICompilationLibrariesProvider.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/ICompilationReferencesProvider.cs
similarity index 51%
rename from src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/ICompilationLibrariesProvider.cs
rename to src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/ICompilationReferencesProvider.cs
index 81b28544b2..bb2691bedd 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/ICompilationLibrariesProvider.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core/ApplicationParts/ICompilationReferencesProvider.cs
@@ -2,18 +2,17 @@
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
 
 using System.Collections.Generic;
-using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ApplicationParts
 {
     /// <summary>
-    /// Exposes <see cref="CompilationLibrary"/> instances from an <see cref="ApplicationPart"/>.
+    /// Exposes one or more reference paths from an <see cref="ApplicationPart"/>.
     /// </summary>
-    public interface ICompilationLibrariesProvider
+    public interface ICompilationReferencesProvider
     {
         /// <summary>
-        /// Gets the sequence of <see cref="CompilationLibrary"/> instances.
+        /// Gets reference paths used to perform runtime compilation.
         /// </summary>
-        IReadOnlyList<CompilationLibrary> GetCompilationLibraries();
+        IEnumerable<string> GetReferencePaths();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProvider.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProvider.cs
index 2651e209fc..f5a42ace01 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProvider.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProvider.cs
@@ -33,21 +33,15 @@ public void PopulateFeature(IEnumerable<ApplicationPart> parts, MetadataReferenc
             }
 
             var libraryPaths = new HashSet<string>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
-            foreach (var providerPart in parts.OfType<ICompilationLibrariesProvider>())
+            foreach (var providerPart in parts.OfType<ICompilationReferencesProvider>())
             {
-                var compileLibraries = providerPart.GetCompilationLibraries();
-
-                for (var i = 0; i < compileLibraries.Count; i++)
+                var referencePaths = providerPart.GetReferencePaths();
+                foreach (var path in referencePaths)
                 {
-                    var library = compileLibraries[i];
-                    var referencePaths = library.ResolveReferencePaths();
-                    foreach (var path in referencePaths)
+                    if (libraryPaths.Add(path))
                     {
-                        if (libraryPaths.Add(path))
-                        {
-                            var metadataReference = CreateMetadataReference(path);
-                            feature.MetadataReferences.Add(metadataReference);
-                        }
+                        var metadataReference = CreateMetadataReference(path);
+                        feature.MetadataReferences.Add(metadataReference);
                     }
                 }
             }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core.Test/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPartTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core.Test/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPartTest.cs
index dea3859282..39fc99a573 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core.Test/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPartTest.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Core.Test/ApplicationParts/AssemblyPartTest.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) .NET Foundation. All rights reserved.
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
 
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Reflection;
 using Xunit;
 
@@ -46,5 +47,36 @@ public void AssemblyPart_Assembly_ReturnsAssembly()
             // Act & Assert
             Assert.Equal(part.Assembly, assembly);
         }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void GetReferencePaths_ReturnsReferencesFromDependencyContext_IfPreserveCompilationContextIsSet()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var assembly = GetType().GetTypeInfo().Assembly;
+            var part = new AssemblyPart(assembly);
+
+            // Act
+            var references = part.GetReferencePaths().ToList();
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Contains(assembly.Location, references);
+            Assert.Contains(typeof(AssemblyPart).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.Location, references);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public void GetReferencePaths_ReturnsAssebmlyLocation_IfPreserveCompilationContextIsNotSet()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            // src projects do not have preserveCompilationContext specified.
+            var assembly = typeof(AssemblyPart).GetTypeInfo().Assembly;
+            var part = new AssemblyPart(assembly);
+
+            // Act
+            var references = part.GetReferencePaths().ToList();
+
+            // Assert
+            var actual = Assert.Single(references);
+            Assert.Equal(assembly.Location, actual);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Test/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProviderTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Test/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProviderTest.cs
index 6ae0f9d964..fe05fdb561 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Test/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProviderTest.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.Test/Compilation/MetadataReferenceFeatureProviderTest.cs
@@ -26,23 +26,6 @@ public void PopulateFeature_ReturnsEmptyList_IfNoAssemblyPartsAreRegistered()
             Assert.Empty(feature.MetadataReferences);
         }
 
-        [Fact]
-        public void PopulateFeature_ReturnsEmptySequence_IfAssemblyDoesNotPreserveCompilationContext()
-        {
-            // Arrange
-            var applicationPartManager = new ApplicationPartManager();
-            var assemblyPart = new AssemblyPart(typeof(MetadataReferenceFeatureProvider).GetTypeInfo().Assembly);
-            applicationPartManager.ApplicationParts.Add(assemblyPart);
-            applicationPartManager.FeatureProviders.Add(new MetadataReferenceFeatureProvider());
-            var feature = new MetadataReferenceFeature();
-
-            // Act
-            applicationPartManager.PopulateFeature(feature);
-
-            // Assert
-            Assert.Empty(feature.MetadataReferences);
-        }
-
         [Fact]
         public void PopulateFeature_AddsMetadataReferenceForAssemblyPartsWithDependencyContext()
         {