Patching and Plastering - Removing Plaster From Brick Corner in Kitchen

Hi All, I'm remodeling my kitchen and have a brick corner I'd like to expose. From what I can tell it's covered in plaster and some kind of ancient tile adhesive. The house is about 90 years old. Towards the top you can see some of the tiles that have not been ripped off yet. I've read in other posts the easiest way to expose the brick would be to use some water, a mallet and chisel. I've been trying this without much luck, in large part, I believe, due to whatever the brown glue type stuff is coating the top layer. It's very hard and doesn't like to give. Any thoughts? Thank you!

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This looks like some kind of parge coat or a really tight scratch coat to make sure the plaster bonded. If it is gypsum plaster try wetting it and using wire brush. Wet it brush off what comes, wet it again and brush and so on.
Now this might be lime plaster or Portland cement plaster. Try a solution of about 1 parts water : 1 part muriatic acid. Wet it brush it, wet it brush it etc. Now if it is lime mortar or Portland cement mortar in the brick you must reach the right balance of getting the plaster off without eroding the mortar in the chimney too. I don't have a solution for that.

Now maybe just maybe where the plaster is still full thickness you can use a wide chisel and hammer and pop it off with the parge or tight scratch coat too. Then a simple cleaning should finish the job.

I have done some of this in the past A little air chisel with a 1" wide bit or wider if you can find one used with care can skin the plaster off and leave the brick in good shape. It takes care and some practice but it can be done. It's dustier and noisier than the hammer and chisel but much faster once you get the hang of it. If you have an air compressor that will deliver enough volume of air you can get a cheap one of those air chisels that will do the job for under $20.00.

Let us know how it goes.