Norah Jones’ neighbors don’t want a window into her soul — or her home, for that matter.
The sultry, introspective Grammy winner quietly scored city approval to let a little sunshine into the windowless brick wall of her Cobble Hill brownstone — but some residents are accusing her of using her star power to win the OK for the renovation, which they say will clash with the character of the historic district.
Contractors this week are set to begin adding 10 double-hung windows to the side brick wall of the Amity Street brownstone that Jones purchased for $4.99 million in January. She has yet to move in.
But the Cobble Hill Association charges that the changes are completely inconsistent with the building’s 19th-century, Greek revival architecture and should have required a hearing at the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Some even suggested that Jones used her celebrity status to circumvent the approval process.
“I’m sure her status certainly helped, and at the very least, it allowed her to hire the best of the best to find legal loopholes,” said association president Roy Sloane.
In an e-mail he sent Jones on Saturday, Sloane wrote, “This is a significant change, and it should have gone to a full [city Landmarks Preservation Commission] hearing because of the size, scope and significant impact it poses.
“Greek-revival buildings of your type do not have side windows, and breaking this precedent is wrong.”
The group has asked Jones to delay construction and meet with them to try reaching a resolution. It also wants the commission to reopen the case with a public review.
The commission declined comment, but Jones isn’t backing down.
The 30-year-old, Brooklyn-born beauty fired an e-mail back to Sloane, saying, “With respect to the Cobble Hill Association, my windows went through the approvals process with Landmarks” and are not “out of character” with the neighborhood.
Jones’ contractors did go before Landmarks commissioners in June — but over less controversial renovations to the home’s interior that were swiftly approved without objections from neighbors.
But months later, her contractors submitted an amended plan to construct the 10 windows. Landmarks staff approved it Oct. 22 without a public hearing before commissioners.
Sloane said Jones found a city loophole that allows staff leeway to grant permits for modifications by deeming them “minor” — even though this construction wouldn’t normally fall into that category.
The planned work “sets a dangerous precedent” in the historic district, “as there are more than 80 structures with un-pierced side walls that could now petition for similar window piercing,” Sloane said in a letter Saturday to commission Chairman Robert Tierney.
Jones’ next-door neighbors are threatening to try to block the construction by filing a lawsuit claiming it’s a safety hazard. They say the side brick wall’s foundation is weak and can’t support window additions.
The wall, which is partially covered with wisteria vines, overlooks the yard and driveway to the neighbors’ co-op building at the corner of Clinton and Amity streets. Both Jones and the co-op’s president, Richard Moore, confirmed their lawyers are talking.
Although Jones has yet to move in, Brooklyn already “Feels Like Home” for her, as she’s regularly spotted throughout the borough in hot spots such as Ferdinando’s Focacceria in Carroll Gardens.
She said in her e-mail that her goal is the same as the association’s: “to keep” Cobble Hill “beautiful and peaceful.”
“Her new album “The Fall” is due out tomorrow.