Wolfram Vollmer was born in 1924, studied optics in high school and then worked two semesters under Carl Zeiss.  After World War 2, Vollmer opened a factory which manufactured steel collar stays and buttons. The market for steel buttons tapered off, and Vollmer studied injection plastic technology at a BASF factory. Shortly afterward, he spent his last Deutsch Marks on an injection molding machine. In 1949, Vollmer exhibited a new line of model catenary for H0. In 1956, the new company facility was established in Zuffenhausen (near Stuttgart), home of Porsche.  Vollmer, currently offers about thirty kits in Z-Scale.  At least one of these kits is actually a group of individual buildings packaged together as a group (pictured below). Their station (also pictured below), called a “branch line station”, is a rustic wood and stucco affair, large enough to be a main line station.  They offer some half-timbered houses and an inn, a city hall, and a farmhouse and barn. 

Courtesy Vollmer, GmbH

Courtesy Vollmer, GmbH

One of their most interesting kits is the House on Fire, a burned-out little jewel that can be rigged out with a smoke unit.  The upper story of the structure has been exposed by the fire and you can see the rooms inside. Of course, the fire is actually the result of some clever tool and die work and airbrushing by Vollmer, but the effect is very nice. I do not, however, recommend the use of the separate smoke unit if the layout is enclosed, since there is no place for the smoke to escape.  In any case, the smoke that comes out is not billowing black smoke, but rather a thin white smoke suggesting smoldering embers rather than a roaring house fire.  Vollmer also markets a haunted house, virtually the same tooling with a few extra plastic castings (pictured below).

Courtesy Vollmer, GmbH

There are newer kits; here are a few examples:

Courtesy Vollmer, GmbH

Courtesy Vollmer, GmbH

Vollmer’s web site shows images of their products here.  The text is in German only.