Piecing together 108 North

So tonight I was doing some research on the style of 108 North. The house was included in a book, "A Guide to Chicago Historic Suburbs On Wheels & On Foot" and classified as of the Italianate style c. 1870. I began by googling Italianate house and was able to find the following:

The Italianate style was derived from the villas of the Italian countryside. Two full stories, low-pitched hip roofs with cupolas, and expansive overhangs supported by decorative brackets are typical features of the style.
The Italianate style dominated American houses constructed between 1850 and 1880. It was particularly common in the expanding towns and cities of the Midwest as well as in many older but still growing cities of the northeastern seaboard.

Here is an example of a classic Italianate house. I can see parts of 108 North in this image...

The Guidebook indicates that the front porch was most likely added in the 1910s which seems to fit with my family moving in to the house in 1916. It also refers to the "slightly lower service wing" which we call the kitchen and dining room as having the original tin roof. What is troubling to me is that it doesn't seem to fit with the Italianate style. Although the upstairs windows go to the floor - they have none of the characteristics of the style. Plus the roof doesn't match.

The more I look at the house - the more I want to know how did it get to be this way? What were the original owners like? How many bedrooms were there upstairs? Why was the "service wing" made lower than the rest of the house? Was the back always 2 stories? The house was white when I was little - but what was the original color?

The more questions I come up with the more I want to know. I guess I'd better get back to the "service wing" - the dishes won't wash themselves.

***Crazily enough our plans for that part of the house include expanding the kitchen into the dining room - so I guess we may be returning it to its original use.