Towards the end of 1615, the then governor of the
Governorate of the Río de la Plata,
Hernando Arias de Saavedra, granted several hundred hectares to Cristóbal de Luque y Cobos in what is now the center of Devoto. Around 1700, a group of
Jesuits established themselves to the east of the neighbourhood, at the corner of Helguera and Navarro streets. In
1767 those residents were expelled from the lands and their building was abandoned. It was still standing in the mid-19th century. In 1734, the lands which are today's Devoto became the property of José Blas de Gainza, and the area was therefore known as
Villa Gainza y Lynch. From February 25, 1864, the lands were incorporated into the then new neighbouring district of
General San Martín Partido (northern
Greater Buenos Aires). Its first mayor was Félix Ballester. The area which formed today's Devoto was an
exurb at the time. Its administrative status as part of
Buenos Aires Province continued until 1888, when the area was incorporated into
Buenos Aires City following the
Federalization of Buenos Aires City (1880). A rail link was built by the
Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, which inaugurated Devoto Station in 1888. The district was finally named after Count
Antonio Devoto, who became the landowner of most of the present-day district in 1904. The Count Devoto was a member of the elite of Buenos Aires. King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy granted Devoto the title of
count in 1916 in gratitude for his assistance to the
Kingdom of Italy during
World War I; Devoto died a few months later. Devoto owned one of the largest mansions of Buenos Aires, known as
Devoto Palace. The mansion was built by Italian architect
Juan Antonio Buschiazzo, its 10,000 m² (107,000 ft²) decorated in bronze, silver and gold with ironwork forged in Italy, as well as
Florentine mosaics. Prince
Umberto di Savoia stayed there during a state visit in 1924. Devoto died before Buschiazzo's work was complete, and the mansion was demolished around 1940. He did not leave any descendants, and his remains lie at the Basílica of San Antonio de Padua in Villa Devoto. The
Metropolitan Seminary of Buenos Aires, alma mater to many of Argentina's bishops and archbishops, was established in Villa Devoto in 1899; among its alumni was the future
Pope Francis. The Devoto Penitentiary, the city's sole remaining jail, was established in 1927. The ward became a
bedroom community in later decades, as well as home to a sizable
English Argentine and
American expatriate community; a Garden Club was established by the English-speaking community in 1978. == Sports ==