It has an island platform because of limitations on space due it being enclosed in a site originally earmarked for one of the underpasses of the A14 autoroute (which runs through La Défense underground).

The station was opened on 1 April 1992 as part of the western extension of the line from Pont de Neuilly to La Défense.

The RATP having preferred an open-air passage on the Neuilly bridge, less expensive, rather than a tunnel under the Seine, with the station La Défense - Michelet, planned since the 1970s by the EPAD, remained unused.

[2] As part of the automation work on line 1, the Esplanade de la Défense station was equipped with platform screen doors during October 2009.

A slight difference in width also exists between the western end of the platform, through which access is made, and the eastern one, narrower and under a lower ceiling covered with a black fireproof flocking.