"It's a nightmare. You can't talk on the phone. It's unspeakable," Cathy Graham, daughter-in-law of the late Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, told The New York Post.

Another next-door neighbor, photographer David Price, called Deutsch "about as sensitive as a toilet seat," the Post said.

Psychotherapist Pearl-Ellen Gordon sued Deutsch, host of "The Big Idea," saying the construction noise drove her from her neighboring apartment and is upsetting to patients. She said she was told in October drilling would end in four weeks.

Deutsch's publicist told the Post he was in full compliance with the law. Records show, however, that the construction company working on the French neo-classic five-story home was issued a summons by the city for not having a noise-mitigation plan, the Post said.