The history of the castle stretches back to Antiquity and is almost analogous with the history of Hungary. From around 10 B.C. the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire stretched along the west bank of the Danube, where a chain of fortifications was built against incursions by the barbarian peoples beyond the river. Known at that time as Campona, Nagytétény formed a part of this chain. On the site of today's castle a farmhouse (villa rustica) then stood.

On the remains of this building a fortified Gothic castle was constructed in the 13th century by the Tétény family, who were local landowners. This castle forms the core of the present building. Room 3 on the ground floor of the Danube wing dates from this period.

Around 1309 Tétény passed into the ownership of Lőrinc Hédervári, palatine and commander of Buda Castle. The family owned it for more than two centuries. During the time of the Héderváris the existing wing was extended through the addition of Rooms 1 and 2 on the ground floor and Room 13 above.

During the approximately 150 years of the Turkish occupation (1541-1686) Tétény belonged to the Sanjak of Buda, which was under the direct control of the sultan.

Following the expulsion of the Turks the building, now in ruins, was given to the Austrian commander Ferenc Buchingen, in recognition of his military services. Ferenc Buchingen sold it to László Petrovay. Afterwards the property, now mortgaged, was acquired from the widowed Mrs. Petrovay (née Julianna Daróczy) by György Száraz, her future brother-in-law.

Chief Justice György Száraz, who was raised to the rank of baron, began farming in Tétény in 1716 and set about rebuilding the castle. Baron György constructed a vaulted stable building parallel to the southern wall of the castle. This was later incorporated into the castle as living accommodation. Presently Room 10, this is the last ground-floor room of the Danube wing.

After György Száraz's early death (1733), his son-in-law József Rudnyánszky - a nephew of the powerful Antal Grassalkovich, a patron of the arts - continued the reconstruction work, but to a new plan. It is with him that the fashioning of the aristocratic Baroque residence (1778) is associated. The building is one of a number of so-called Grassalkovich castles in Hungary.

No creditable data exists concerning the identity of the man who designed the new building, but obvious stylistic similarities between the Nagytétény and other Grassalkovich castles - including the one at Gödöllő - point to a common architect.

Owing to the reconstruction carried out in József Rudnyánszky's time, the castle became an aristocratic Baroque residence: the stable block, now with an upper storey added, was now connected to the edifice constituting the castle's core by a two-level east wing and a two-level west wing.

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