A new house
Hoyle Court estate extended from the houses bounded by the main road and the railway right through to St James Church.
At the bottom, on Otley Road, stood a detached house built of local stone in keeping with Hoyle Court itself. The gardener, Mr Viney, lived there with his wife and had moved there with the family from White Lodge, Heaton, where the Amblers originally lived.
The private grounds were screened by a variety of trees such as rhododendrons, lilac and other blossom bearing bushes.
The garden at the front of the house is similar to as it is now except that the rose garden was in fact a lily pond with goldfish. It was fed by Springwater from the moors and the pipes can still be seen today. To the rear, which is now our carpark, was a large circular rose garden with an imposing statue in the centre.
There was also an aviary with tropical birds and a monkey house where a bad tempered monkey called Gretchen lived. Sam also acquired a fowl mouthed green parrot he bought from a sailor. This parrot lived in the kitchen and one day cook was so disgusted with its language she put it in the corridor. Unfortunately, it caught a cold and died.
Hoyle Court, a Queen Anne style house, was built by Sam Ambler between 1910 and 1912 for his wife, Emily Beatrice. Sam Ambler was a descendent of Jeremiah Ambler who established the Bradford company Jeremiah Ambler & Sons Limited in 1789.
