diff --git a/jenkinsapi/jenkinsbase.py b/jenkinsapi/jenkinsbase.py
index 939f0d9a..0372f9bd 100644
--- a/jenkinsapi/jenkinsbase.py
+++ b/jenkinsapi/jenkinsbase.py
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ def get_data(self, url, params=None, tree=None):
 
         response = requester.get_url(url, params)
         if response.status_code != 200:
-            logger.error('Failed request at %s with params: %s %s',
-                         url, params, tree if tree else '')
+            logger.error('Failed request at %s with params: %s %s - HTTP %s',
+                         url, params, tree if tree else '', response.status_code)
             response.raise_for_status()
         try:
             return ast.literal_eval(response.text)
diff --git a/jenkinsapi/queue.py b/jenkinsapi/queue.py
index 1fe5c61d..58ab97dc 100644
--- a/jenkinsapi/queue.py
+++ b/jenkinsapi/queue.py
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ class QueueItem(JenkinsBase):
     """An individual item in the queue
     """
 
+    MAX_RETRIES = 100  # if set, abort after this number of HTTPError
+
     def __init__(self, baseurl, jenkins_obj):
         self.jenkins = jenkins_obj
         JenkinsBase.__init__(self, baseurl)
@@ -142,6 +144,7 @@ def block_until_complete(self, delay=5):
         return build.block_until_complete(delay=delay)
 
     def block_until_building(self, delay=5):
+        retries = 0
         while True:
             try:
                 self.poll()
@@ -150,7 +153,10 @@ def block_until_building(self, delay=5):
                 time.sleep(delay)
                 continue
             except HTTPError as http_error:
+                if self.MAX_RETRIES and retries >= self.MAX_RETRIES:
+                    raise http_error
                 log.debug(str(http_error))
+                retries += 1
                 time.sleep(delay)
                 continue