A Sad thing indeed - Cleaning painted brick  

I believe sand-blasting will take it off
but it might take some of the brick texture with it. Depends on the hardness of the brick, I guess?

Yes
It depends how much the paint has permeated the brick- which is quite porous.
Often the best (and probably unwelcome) advice is to repaint.

I
like painted brick.
Alway's
Aunt Mark

well
on the outside of houses I prefer good ole BRICK. I called a mobile sand blaster dude ("mr. Sandman") and hope he'll come over and contemplate the situation.
The house looks much better in it's new clothes, but the brick needs attention.

How many bricks
are painted? 10, 1,000? If it's not too many you can always brush on some paint stripper, then pressure wash it out. I don't think you can sand blast brick. Sand blasting is very powerful. I've had it done many times, and anything porous will get eaten right through. It may not eat your entire brick out, but I bet it will take off all the tips, and reduce the pores down to a flat smooth surface. They use other minerals to blast with. Some not as strong as the normal strength sand.

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http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1405

well
this from the home depot site for something called Redi Strip which is environmentally friendly:
I used this to strip paint off of two brick chimneys. I used several other products before this, and this was definitely the best and most effective. After letting sit overnight, I was able to scrape off a thick layer of paint, leaving only a thin coloring on the brick, which I had to use a wire brush to finish. It took alot of manpower to get the last layer with a brush, but that was expected on a brick wall. Minimal fumes, so excellent for using indoors.
HUM

Maybe it's just me....
But I've never had a problem with painted brick. But, I do enjoy natural brick as well, with exceptions ( some brick is fugly). It's not easy.
Best,
Aunt Mark

You may not want to...
You may not want to sandblast it. When one does that, it removes the layer of the brick that is most resistant to weathering.
It's not ideal, but if you know the original color of the brick, you could perhaps paint it that color, if you're unable to remove the paint.

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http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2825

agreed
I think I will avoid the sandblasting
Mark - I don't hate painted brick, in some situations I rather like it (mostly interior uses), but these are really nice, narrow bricks. High quality, not the more common red brick. My neighborhood is chock full of homes of my vintage and the one's with the original, exposed brick just rock.

Mark is no doubt
familiar with some lovely homes of the East Coast, and of their European (or at least English ?) forebears. White-painted brick seems to be the original material of some of these. White is the color of choice, as it best reveals the texture of the brickwork and doesn't pretend to some other material.
Stone is never painted; the material doesn't need or want coating. White-painted stones along a drive, for navigation after dark, are sometimes seen (bad pun).
No house or other structure of brick which was not originally coated and which is not made of exceptionally ugly brick, should be painted.

I had
a brick victorian in a historic neighborhood many years ago. In the earliest renovations in my neighborhood sandblasting was the norm. It stopped when people figured out that these bricks were basically hard shells with soft, crumbly interiors. The blasting took off the hard layer and these bricks eroded with surprising speed. the worst became brick shaped shells with almost no interior at all. They were completely compromised by the normal weathering that they had withstood nicely for 130 plus years prior. Ironically the only way to save some of these buildings was to paint them and keep them painted. Now your much later house could have a brick that is more hard throughout, but I would want some evaluation of the composition of your bricks before proceeding with sandblasting. Tuckpointing with the wrong type of mortar if you have need can bring on similar disasters. BTW, I am with you on the dislike of non original painted brick.

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Methylene chloride based stripper followed by a pressure washer.
I've removed paint from a concrete floor, and heavy duty stripper works, but you've got to get the residue out of the pores before it dries.
Not fun.