diff --git a/src/encoding/block.cpp b/src/encoding/block.cpp
index f881c8e..bad73a2 100644
--- a/src/encoding/block.cpp
+++ b/src/encoding/block.cpp
@@ -245,4 +245,27 @@
   Tlv::readVarNumber(m_value_begin, m_value_end);
 }
 
+Block
+Block::blockFromValue() const
+{
+  if (value_size()==0)
+    throw Error("Underlying value buffer is empty");
+  
+  Buffer::const_iterator begin = value_begin(),
+    end = value_end();
+
+  Buffer::const_iterator element_begin = begin;
+      
+  uint32_t type = Tlv::readType(begin, end);
+  uint64_t length = Tlv::readVarNumber(begin, end);
+
+  if (end-begin != length)
+    throw Tlv::Error("TLV length mismatches buffer length");
+      
+  return Block(m_buffer,
+               type,
+               element_begin, end,
+               begin, end);
+}
+
 } // namespace ndn
diff --git a/src/encoding/block.hpp b/src/encoding/block.hpp
index a764dd1..9c2777d 100644
--- a/src/encoding/block.hpp
+++ b/src/encoding/block.hpp
@@ -184,6 +184,9 @@
   inline size_t
   value_size() const;
 
+  Block
+  blockFromValue() const;
+
 protected:
   ConstBufferPtr m_buffer;