After the castle was destroyed in 1481 and 1511, the ruins were inherited in 1536 to Johan van den Bongard, hereditary chamberlain of Gulik and official of Grave. After him to his son Bernard I van den Bongard, whose son Bernard II van den Bongard rebuilt the castle between 1632 and 1642 in Dutch Renaissance style. After being used as a headquarters by the French for several months, it was burned down in 1673 by French troops commanded by Frans de Montmorency, Duke of Luxembourg.
The ruin was sold in 1675 to the Amsterdam merchant Joan Ortt. The castle was rebuilt and remained in the hands of the Ortt family until 1849. After a public auction it came into the hands of Jhr. W.J.A. from Romondt. Willem Hendricus de Heus bought land around Nijenrode at the same auction. The sale followed the death of the Lady Ortt van Nijenrode, born Schroijensteijn, on 29-11-1848. In April 1853 Nijenrode was bought through a public auction by Willem Hendricus de Heus, a Utrecht entrepreneur and Member of Parliament. On May 1, 1854, the castle was offered for rent in an advertisement in the Opregte Haarlemsche Courant. For De Heus it was a business investment. He lived in Utrecht on the Rijnkade and later in the summer months on 'de Pietersberg' in Oosterbeek and in the winter months first in Maria-Lust and later in villa Sophia's Hoeve, built at his factory in Apeldoorn. Although he did not live in the castle, he had it renovated in 1860 for a considerable amount in the neo-Tudor style. He died in 1872 and the castle passed on to his son Henri. The new owner was not interested in Nijenrode, because he both lived and worked in Apeldoorn. For several years he leased it to C.J. van der Meulen, who housed a boarding school there. After Henri de Heus died, the castle was sold by his heirs.
From 1907 to 1930 it was owned by Michiel Onnes, an Amsterdam merchant in coffee. He had Nijenrode restored and expanded until 1920. In 1930 it was bought by the Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. He used the castle as a showroom for his trading stock. Not only potential customers were invited to the castle, Nijenrode was also opened to the public. In this way Goudstikker also tried to bring the less wealthy into contact with art. He also organized several benefit concerts and large parties for society in and around the castle. For example, the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the baton of Willem Mengelberg performed in the garden of Nijenrode.
The Jewish Goudstikker died on board the ship in which he fled from IJmuiden to the United Kingdom in May 1940. In July 1940, his art dealership was sold by the staff to Hermann Göring and the German Alois Miedl, who lived in the Netherlands. The real estate of the art trade, including Kasteel Nijenrode, came into the hands of Alois Miedl. After the Second World War, the widow Goudstikker bought Nijenrode Castle back from the Dutch State, which managed the castle after the liberation. She sold the castle again in 1950.
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