Working in the classical tradition, Van Doren's distinctive drawings are drawn from twenty years of his career and document him as an accomplished colorist with a particular affinity for architectural elements such as domes, corbels, caryatids, bays, oriels, cornices, medallions, entablatures, pediments, and other aspects of architectural distinction, shape and texture.

He also acquired objects from areas east of Lake Tanganyika, among them an important set of carvings from the Maniema region including a Luba caryatid figure, a wonderful Luba staff, a power figure, and an exceptional bowstand (Fig.

Enormous sculptural elements, such as Classical columns, caryatids and landscaped gardens and roofs convey a feeling of heroic scale and these buildings are indeed huge (library 61 000sqm and court 45 000sqm) compared with the ordinary houses which surround them.