diff --git a/src/lib/Hydra/Controller/Root.pm b/src/lib/Hydra/Controller/Root.pm
index e60420b0..eeb46452 100644
--- a/src/lib/Hydra/Controller/Root.pm
+++ b/src/lib/Hydra/Controller/Root.pm
@@ -13,9 +13,18 @@ use Encode;
 # Put this controller at top-level.
 __PACKAGE__->config->{namespace} = '';
 
+sub noLoginNeeded {
+  my ($c) = @_;
+
+  return $c->request->path eq "persona-login" ||
+         $c->request->path eq "login" ||
+         $c->request->path eq "logo" ||
+         $c->request->path =~ /^static\//;
+}
 
 sub begin :Private {
     my ($self, $c, @args) = @_;
+
     $c->stash->{curUri} = $c->request->uri;
     $c->stash->{version} = $ENV{"HYDRA_RELEASE"} || "<devel>";
     $c->stash->{nixVersion} = $ENV{"NIX_RELEASE"} || "<devel>";
@@ -26,6 +35,12 @@ sub begin :Private {
     $c->stash->{successMsg} = $c->flash->{successMsg};
     $c->stash->{personaEnabled} = $c->config->{enable_persona} // "0" eq "1";
 
+    $c->stash->{isPrivateHydra} = $c->config->{private} // "0" ne "0";
+
+    if ($c->stash->{isPrivateHydra} && ! noLoginNeeded($c)) {
+        requireUser($c);
+    }
+
     if (scalar(@args) == 0 || $args[0] ne "static") {
         $c->stash->{nrRunningBuilds} = $c->model('DB::Builds')->search({ finished => 0, busy => 1 }, {})->count();
         $c->stash->{nrQueuedBuilds} = $c->model('DB::Builds')->search({ finished => 0 })->count();
diff --git a/src/root/topbar.tt b/src/root/topbar.tt
index 82af9088..09c0b8b1 100644
--- a/src/root/topbar.tt
+++ b/src/root/topbar.tt
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
     </ul>
   </li>
 [% END %]
+[% showPrivate = (isPrivateHydra && c.user_exists) || ! isPrivateHydra %]
 
+[% IF showPrivate %]
 <ul class="nav pull-left">
 
   [% IF c.user_exists %]
@@ -110,13 +112,15 @@
   [% END %]
 
 </ul>
+[% END %]
 
 <ul class="nav pull-right">
 
-  <form class="navbar-search" action="[% c.uri_for('/search') %]">
-    <input name="query" type="text" class="search-query span2" placeholder="Search" [% HTML.attributes(value => c.req.params.query) %]/>
-  </form>
-
+  [% IF showPrivate %]
+    <form class="navbar-search" action="[% c.uri_for('/search') %]">
+      <input name="query" type="text" class="search-query span2" placeholder="Search" [% HTML.attributes(value => c.req.params.query) %]/>
+    </form>
+  [% END %]
   [% IF c.user_exists %]
     [% INCLUDE menuItem uri = c.uri_for(c.controller('User').action_for('edit'), [c.user.username]) title = "Preferences" %]
     <li>