As early as around 300, there was a rampart on the site of the castle, which later became a Wasserburg was expanded. During a major fire in 1679, large parts of the village as well as the moated castle and the Vorwerk to the flames. Around 1700, Duke Johann Ernst III of Saxe-Weimar the moated castle as Pleasure palace rebuilt by his wife. After the death of the Duchess in 1738, the pleasure palace was rebuilt according to plans by the architect Gottfried Heinrich Krohne converted into a hunting lodge. From 1880, the building complex served as a forestry office after being vacant for a time.

The ensemble was damaged during the Second World War and fell into disrepair in the post-war period, so that after 1945 all the outbuildings were demolished apart from the badly damaged main building. The latter, dilapidated and threatened with demolition, served as a residential building. After 1990, the privately owned building was renovated with the support of the German Foundation for Monument Protection..

The privately owned old castle, which served as a hunting lodge and widow's residence for the Dukes of Saxony Weimar, still bears witness to Hardisleben's former importance. At the time, the former official residence had a moat around its numerous buildings.