I have used Peel Away.

Thank you!!!

I think first you will need to experimnet to figure out what kind of paint was used . Heat gun has no real effect on latex , just as wter based strippers have no effect on oil paint.That brick does not look original to that style of FP .The top part looks like it was just pasted on to give the illusion of a chimney . I think I would remove that part and add a nice wood mantel

Thank you! We will be adding wood mantel. It’s all original, parts of the stone was painted. Before photo here will make more sense. They added white shaker fireplace and painted remaining exposed stone. We removed the white shaker to expose original fireplace.

Probably easiest to remove the stone & replace.

Peel away or soy stripper would be my guesses. Or cheat and hire a faux painter to paint it

I sure hope you find something that works, that’s such wonderful old stone. Sad it was painted over.

Just out of curiosity, what year is the house?

Amazing how people are suggesting you just get rid of it. The stone is beautiful and people are just showing how they have no clue about older homes.

Unfortunately, it's been close to 30 years since I last had to strip anything on an old house so have no suggestions.

I would try a chemical stripper. Try a small area first. Very nice find. It appears to be in really nice condition.

Thank you everyone! Will try one of these suggestions. Yes sad that it was painted, but hoping we can find a way to restore it!! We will not be getting rid of it that’s for sure. Great condition, just needs some cleaning and TLC. 🙂

If you have access to a heat gun, it's worth trying before you purchase chemicals. I've had good luck using one to strip latex exterior paint off our concrete patio. On concrete, I use the heat gun while scraping with a putty knife. On stone, you might want to pair a heat gun with a wire brush.

This is so sad. Painting over beautiful stone or brick, inside or out. Painting over beautiful wood. Tearing down walls. removing great floors. Throwing away furniture, china, silver, and crystal. It is all so sad and in the future the ones that are doing this, their grandchildren will be hunting for anything left.

ETA: Just buy a new house with nothing nice.

Soy gel stripper left on for at least a few hours, then use a scraper and wire brush to remove.  It worked for a brick fireplace I stripped.  Took about 3 rounds to get all the paint off.

You'll piddle around for days with those whimpy eco-wennie soy strippers. Get some methylene-chloride based stripper please.