In 1324 the Castle of l'Estriverie estate was declared a fief by the Counts of Hainaut and granted to Gérard de Lestruve. The estate was passed on to Hoste d'Ecaussinnes and in 1440 to the Despretz de Quievrain family who kept it until 1483. One of this family, Watier de Quivrains, erected a castle here in 1454. It is on the foundations of this old castle that the current building stands.
In 1483 the estate passed by marriage to the Cottrel family, who kept the castle for seven generations. This family did most of the restoring and rebuilding in the 16th and 17th century, and turned the fortified medieval dwelling into a graceful château.
In 1727, the estate became the property of Marie Spinola, the last niece of the Cottrel family. She gave it to her son, who sold the estate in 1756 to Joseph Antoine de Wautier. The court of Hainault however overturned the sale and transferred the castle to Jean Philippe d'Yve, Viscount of Bavay.
References:Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.