Address: 603 Manchester Road
Built: 1908
1912 householder: Charles F. S. Deacon, house carpenter and building contractor

This attractive 1 ½ storey colonial-style bungalow, on the south-east corner of Manchester and Sumas, was built in 1908. It has a distinctive hipped, bell-cast roof with dormer window, a box bay front window and forty-five degree verandah porch. Built by Charles F. S. Deacon, a carpenter and building contractor, it was the Deacon family home for nearly twenty years.

Charles and Adeline Deacon emigrated from England, with their sons Charles John and David Gordon, in 1902. They lived in a house on Burnside Road, near Douglas Street, before moving into this house on Manchester Road. Charles Deacon worked initially as a carpenter at the Muirhead and Mann sawmill on Store Street. He was later employed as a foreman at the Taylor Mill Company, a lumber firm located on Government Street near Bay Street. In that capacity, he worked with William McCarter who lived at 2526 Government Street. The mill was nearly destroyed in a spectacular fire in January 1912. By that time, however, Charles Deacon and his eldest son had established themselves as residential building contractors.

They built this house at a cost of $2,000. They built a similar house on an adjacent lot at 656 Sumas Street and likely built the house at 607 Manchester Road. In 1910, they constructed a couple of bungalows on the south side of Sumas Street. Those bungalows, now demolished, were built in response to the red hot real estate market that prevailed in Victoria at the time. They would have been built to high standards, if they were anything like this house on Manchester Road and its neighbour at 656 Sumas. Both houses are well-designed and exhibit stylish features. And, fortunately for the heritage community, both houses have been well-maintained. Indeed, this house is painted in a warm yellow colour that was very fashionable when it was first built.

When the Deacon family was enumerated in 1911, Charles was 47 years old and Adeline was 45 years old. Charles John was 23 years old and employed as a carpenter; David was 15 years old and employed as an apprentice carpenter. Both of the Deacon boys served in the army during the First World War. David enlisted with the 88th Battalion, Victoria Fusiliers, while his older brother served with a British unit. Charles Junior apparently endured some very harrowing experiences during the war in France, the Balkans and the Dardanelles. In a newspaper report, David said that “he would rather one thousand times go through shot and shell than have the experiences that befell Charles J. in his travels (Victoria Daily Colonist, 3 August 1916). Fortunately, both men survived the war. David Deacon was married in England in 1919 and may have remained in “the Old Country.” Charles J. Deacon returned to Victoria and, with his father, resumed his work as a carpenter.

The elder Deacon may have died in the early 1920s. A record of his death has not been located, but Adeline Deacon is listed as a widow in the 1925 Victoria City Directory. She was residing with her son Charles at 1409 Stanley Street in Fernwood. In 1930, he was employed by Canadian Western Woodworkers Ltd., a firm that manufactured doors, windows, mouldings, and furniture. The firm was located at 350 Garbally Road.

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