About

Profiles of Partners

Peter D. Polhemus, Architect, President

As president of Polhemus Savery DaSilva, Peter Polhemus brings talent, energy and vision to the work of designing and building on Cape Cod and the Islands. In addition to working closely with clients, Polhemus leads the management team that sets the mission, sustains the values and oversees the day-to-day functions of the firm.

Born in Washington’s Crossing, Pennsylvania, Peter Polhemus received his secondary education at the Lawrenceville School and his undergraduate education at Harvard and Goddard Colleges. He pursued his post-graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received a Master of Architecture in 1979. Polhemus practiced as a project architect with several Boston firms, including Woo and Williams, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Anne Beha & Associates where he designed institutional, commercial and residential projects.

Peter Polhemus moved with his family to Cape Cod in 1986 and served for ten years as lead architect with a design and construction firm. It was here that he met and established a close working relationship with that firm’s construction chief, Len Savery. They formed a partnership - Polhemus & Savery, Architects Builders - in Chatham, Massachusetts in 1996.

Polhemus is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Cahoon Museum of American Art and serves as Vice President of the Board of the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod.

John R. DaSilva, A.I.A., Architect, Design Principal

John DaSilva joined Polhemus & Savery in 1998 and became design partner in 2000. DaSilva brings talent and commitment to the firm, where he is responsible for directing the architectural and interior design staff and setting aesthetic direction for commercial, institutional, and residential projects.

Raised in Danbury, Connecticut, John DaSilva studied architecture at Princeton University where he received an A.B. Architecture, graduating Summa Cum Laude, and at Yale University School of Architecture, where he received a Master of Architecture and was awarded the Carrol L.V. Meeks Memorial Scholarship for outstanding academic performance.

DaSilva has worked at several distinguished architectural firms including Cesar Pelli and Associates and Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown. At Cesar Pelli and Associates, DaSilva served in project design and construction administration capacities on university, healthcare and commercial projects.

Leonard H. Savery, Retired Vice President, Director, Shareholder

A native and life-long resident of Cape Cod, Len Savery was the principal builder in Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders. As vice president and construction principal of Polhemus Savery DaSilva, Savery oversaw all construction operations and managed the firm’s financial and administrative functions. From preliminary cost estimating through construction management of fine architectural detail, Savery strove to provide the client with a seamless and conflict-free design-build experience.

Trained in construction technology and management at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where he graduated in 1963, Len Savery has more than 40 years of construction and construction management experience with residential, commercial and institutional projects. Prior to forming the partnership in 1996, Savery served as a lead construction manager for Cape Cod design-build firms specializing in residential and commercial projects. In that capacity, he was responsible for supervising all subcontractors and field employees, and for construction cost estimating, client communications, and project financing. Savery also served as president of the Cape Cod Contractors and Builders Association between 1974 and 1976.

After hours, Savery extends his management, coordination and leadership skills to the musical world as director and lead trumpet player of his big band The Moonlighters.