When the First World War began in 1914, Lutzenberger served within the German armed forces as a weapon designer, having fought against the Allies in France and Belgium. During the war truces, he would paint and draw military scenes and landscapes.
When he arrived in Porto Alegre in 1920, Lutzenberger was hired by Weiss CIA, a construction company, and designed important buildings in the city, such as the Igreja São José, the Palácio do Comércio, and the Instituto Pão dos Pobres. As an architect, Lutzenberger had a sober and functional eclectic style. Besides Porto Alegre, he also executed other buildings in cities like Caxias do Sul, Novo Hamburgo, Lajeado and Santa Cruz do Sul.
As an artist, Lutzenberger liked to paint the city with its inhabitants, houses and traditions, the war, and the country life. A low-profile person, he displayed an exhibition of his works only once in life, during the Ragamuffin War centenary celebrations, in 1935.
He and his wife Emma Kroeff had three children. Their only son, José Lutzenberger, was a famous environmentalist in Brazil. The Kroeff-Lutzenberger home was bilingual German and Portuguese, like millions of others in southern Brazil.
