Call it the name that got nicked.

The board of the TTC has voted to nick 10 letters off the name of one of the new stations being built on the Spadina subway extension into York Region.

The Black Creek Pioneer Village Station was originally conceived as Steeles West Station, after the street where it stops near Jane.

Even though it’s about 800 metres from the pioneer village, the TTC board voted last year to honour the museum and make it easy for tourists to find the place.

The unique design of the entrance shows the name, Steeles West, embedded in a steel cornice. But lengthening the name to Black Creek Pioneer Village would extend the steel letters so they would wrap halfway round the entrance and, above the door, spell “eek pio”.

So on Wednesday, Councillors Maria Augimeri and John Parker, who both sit on the Toronto Transit Commission, devised a compromise. The station will now be called — at least above the door — Pioneer Village.

The architectural design change will cost $25,000. Beyond that, there will probably be some material and contract changes, although as Augimeri pointed out, many of the new letters are “I”s and “L”s that won’t take too much room.

Meantime, staff urged the board to reconsider returning to the Steeles West name, a move supported by board chair Karen Stintz.

“I still don’t know what the full cost of (changing to Pioneer Village) will be, but staff are going to go away and if it’s over budget we’ll have to deal with that,” she said.

Augimeri, who also sits on the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, which operates the pioneer village, called it “a treasure for the city of Toronto.” The museum attracts about 145,000 visitors a year.

The station, which sits north of the York University campus on the dividing line between Toronto and York Region, was designed by British architect Will Alsop, who also conceived the Ontario College of Art and Design building on stilts. The station’s Corten steel façade, which has a copper component, will develop a rusty patina as it weathers.

The subway extension is expected to open in 2016.

By 2031, Black Creek Pioneer Village Station is projected to draw about 4,000 commuters in the morning rush.

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