The Powers Building, built on Princess Street in the Trinity Royal area in 1878, was one of many commercial buildings erected in downtown Saint after the 1877 Great Fire of Saint John left two-thirds of the city in ruins. As was popular during the reconstruction period, the Powers Building was built in the brick Italianate style.

The building was soon acquired by Mark Needham Powers, the first full-time undertaker in the city of Saint John. Both living and working on the premise, Powers is notable for introducing the first glass hearse in New Brunswick. After Powers died in 1892, his son T. Fred Jones became the business owner, and when Jones died in 1911, his own son Mark took over the business. After Mark's death in 1925, the Powers Undertaking services ended after 50 years, though another undertaker named Frank Morris continued to provide undertaking services in the building until the 1930s. In the present day, the Powers Building hosts a restaurant named Decimal 81.