I think you're describing Spanier.
Everyone I know who has seriously studied from Spanier swears by it- it's an absolute classic. The approach is exactly as you describe- algebraic topology for grown-ups. The treatment of homological algebra in it is extremely nice, and quite sophisticated.
A second, quite brilliant book along the same lines is Rotman. It's more geometric than Spanier, for those who like such things, and find it easier to read (although that's a matter of taste of course). Again, the treatment is unembarrassed to employ nontrivial homological algebra and category theory, in a good way.