diff --git a/django/http/__init__.py b/django/http/__init__.py
index c97b402..a732a53 100644
--- a/django/http/__init__.py
+++ b/django/http/__init__.py
@@ -543,12 +543,7 @@ class HttpResponse(object):
         if not content_type:
             content_type = "%s; charset=%s" % (settings.DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE,
                     self._charset)
-        if not isinstance(content, basestring) and hasattr(content, '__iter__'):
-            self._container = content
-            self._is_string = False
-        else:
-            self._container = [content]
-            self._is_string = True
+        HttpResponse._set_content(self, content)
         self.cookies = SimpleCookie()
         if status:
             self.status_code = status
@@ -648,12 +643,16 @@ class HttpResponse(object):
 
     def _get_content(self):
         if self.has_header('Content-Encoding'):
-            return ''.join(self._container)
-        return smart_str(''.join(self._container), self._charset)
+            return ''.join([str(e) for e in self._container])
+        return ''.join([smart_str(e, self._charset) for e in self._container])
 
     def _set_content(self, value):
-        self._container = [value]
-        self._is_string = True
+        if hasattr(value, '__iter__'):
+            self._container = value
+            self._base_content_is_iter = True
+        else:
+            self._container = [value]
+            self._base_content_is_iter = False
 
     content = property(_get_content, _set_content)
 
@@ -674,7 +673,7 @@ class HttpResponse(object):
     # The remaining methods partially implement the file-like object interface.
     # See http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
     def write(self, content):
-        if not self._is_string:
+        if self._base_content_is_iter:
             raise Exception("This %s instance is not writable" % self.__class__)
         self._container.append(content)
 
@@ -682,9 +681,9 @@ class HttpResponse(object):
         pass
 
     def tell(self):
-        if not self._is_string:
+        if self._base_content_is_iter:
             raise Exception("This %s instance cannot tell its position" % self.__class__)
-        return sum([len(chunk) for chunk in self._container])
+        return sum([len(str(chunk)) for chunk in self._container])
 
 class HttpResponseRedirect(HttpResponse):
     status_code = 302
diff --git a/docs/ref/request-response.txt b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
index 295fba1..1bbee00 100644
--- a/docs/ref/request-response.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
@@ -588,7 +588,7 @@ Attributes
 
 .. attribute:: HttpResponse.content
 
-    A normal Python string representing the content, encoded from a Unicode
+    A string representing the content, encoded from a Unicode
     object if necessary.
 
 .. attribute:: HttpResponse.status_code
@@ -604,9 +604,11 @@ Methods
     string) and MIME type. The :setting:`DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE` is
     ``'text/html'``.
 
-    ``content`` can be an iterator or a string. If it's an iterator, it should
-    return strings, and those strings will be joined together to form the
-    content of the response.
+    ``content`` should be an iterator or a string. If it's an
+    iterator, it should return strings, and those strings will be
+    joined together to form the content of the response. If it is not
+    an iterator or a string, it will be converted to a string when
+    accessed.
 
     ``status`` is the `HTTP Status code`_ for the response.
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/httpwrappers/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/httpwrappers/tests.py
index 66bd804..8106556 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/httpwrappers/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/httpwrappers/tests.py
@@ -216,13 +216,13 @@ class HttpResponseTests(unittest.TestCase):
         r['value'] = u'test value'
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(r['value'], str))
 
-        # An error is raised ~hen a unicode object with non-ascii is assigned.
+        # An error is raised when a unicode object with non-ascii is assigned.
         self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, r.__setitem__, 'value', u't\xebst value')
 
         # An error is raised when  a unicode object with non-ASCII format is
         # passed as initial mimetype or content_type.
         self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, HttpResponse,
-                mimetype=u't\xebst value')
+                content_type=u't\xebst value')
 
         # HttpResponse headers must be convertible to ASCII.
         self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError, HttpResponse,
@@ -250,6 +250,51 @@ class HttpResponseTests(unittest.TestCase):
         r = HttpResponse()
         self.assertEqual(r.get('test'), None)
 
+    def test_non_string_content(self):
+        #Bug 16494: HttpResponse should behave consistently with non-strings
+        r = HttpResponse(12345)
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, '12345')
+
+        #test content via property
+        r = HttpResponse()
+        r.content = 12345
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, '12345')
+
+    def test_iter_content(self):
+        r = HttpResponse(['abc', 'def', 'ghi'])
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, 'abcdefghi')
+
+        #test iter content via property
+        r = HttpResponse()
+        r.content = ['idan', 'alex', 'jacob']
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, 'idanalexjacob')
+
+        r = HttpResponse()
+        r.content = [1, 2, 3]
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, '123')
+
+        #test retrieval explicitly using iter and odd inputs
+        r = HttpResponse()
+        r.content = ['1', u'2', 3, unichr(1950)]
+        result = []
+        my_iter = r.__iter__()
+        while True:
+            try:
+                result.append(my_iter.next())
+            except StopIteration:
+                break
+        #'\xde\x9e' == unichr(1950).encode('utf-8')
+        self.assertEqual(result, ['1', '2', '3', '\xde\x9e'])
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, '123\xde\x9e')
+
+        #with Content-Encoding header
+        r = HttpResponse([1,1,2,4,8])
+        r['Content-Encoding'] = 'winning'
+        self.assertEqual(r.content, '11248')
+        r.content = [unichr(1950),]
+        self.assertRaises(UnicodeEncodeError,
+                          getattr, r, 'content')
+
 class CookieTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_encode(self):
         """
