About Devas
The Club
We have been providing opportunities through activities for young people from our current location since 1970. Over the years, some of the activities provided have changed considerably. A gym, recording studio, and radio room are located on the lower first floor. The first floor houses a fit-for-purpose kitchen, social areas, a computer suite, and art room. The first floor offers a large gymnasium and a smaller rehearsal space, while some office space is located on the second floor. There is an enclosed basketball court on the roof.
Our History
In 1884, Jocelyn Devas, a graduate of University College, Oxford started a ‘Club for working lads’ in a room over a coffee tavern in Stewarts Road, Battersea. Two years later, in 1886, Jocelyn was tragically killed in a climbing accident in Zermatt. Jocelyn’s Father enlisted the help of his Son’s friends and funded an initiative to carry on the work that Jocelyn had started in Battersea.
Arthur L Harding was one of these friends and was the guiding influence in successfully renovating and then moving to larger premises in Thessaly Road in 1907.
The move of the Covent Garden market to Nine Elms entailed the compulsory purchase of the Thessaly Road property. The City Parochial Foundation acquired an alternative site for Devas on Stormont Road and commissioned the building of its present location. The building was officially opened in 1970.