Located on 279 Princess Street, Saint John, the Turner Residence was one of many buildings erected in the immediate aftermath of the Great Saint John Fire of 1877. It is a two-story brick complex unit attached on its left side to a mirroring unit at 277 Princess Street.
 
The complex offers a good example of the Italianate architecture popular in the rebuilding period. It is constructed of high-quality brick with decorative arch openings, brick corbel bands on the cornice, and sandstone ornamentation. There is a semi-octagonal bay window on the right side of the façade, with a mirrored bay window on the adjoining unit.
 
Although it was used by a Methodist parsonage around 1886, the residence was abandoned by 1893. It was then purchased by its namesake, Joshua Allan Turner, in 1900. Turner worked several jobs involving oysters and clams: he worked as a planter, shipper, wholesale and retail dealer, and sold hot clam chowders. Turner would live in the residence until his death in 1930, and his daughter Susie Turner would stay until the 1950s.