After being destroyed during World War I, the place where it stood was initially protected and declared as not for development, but in the end, urban development took over before World War II. Porte de Lilas is actually a huge square (Place du Marquis-du-Vercors) that connects the suburbs to the capital in a very obvious way, as it borders two communes of Seine-Saint-Denis: Les Lilas and Le Pré-St-Gervais.