Raised hearth demo

[JA600L]

Hi guys,
We have an 8 month old baby who just started crawling and I would like to demo the brick hearth in our living room.
I plan on removing the wood stove and no longer using it. I have another stove in the basement.

I've been leaning towards just removing the floor section and leaving the brick wall alone. Ideally it would all come down but I'm trying to be practical.

The only thing stopping me is not knowing what's underneath this thing. I can see what looks like a morter bed underneath it from the basement.

I attached some photos. Does anybody know how this is constructed? When it's all done I would lay floating vinyl floor over it.

 

[begreen]

Seems like a shame to remove it all. Maybe take out the stove and put a cap on the thimble, then make a play area out of the hearth? That would allow other options in the future as the child grows up.