In 1869, he returned to London as minister of the Poultry church, founded by Thomas Goodwin. Almost at once he began the scheme which resulted in the erection of the great City Temple in Holborn Viaduct. It cost £70,000, and was opened on 19 May 1874. From this centre his influence spread far and wide. His stimulating and original sermons, delivered with a ready command of vigorous English, made him one of the best known personalities of his time. Dr. Parker exchanged a number of friendly letters with Spurgeon, and was invited to speak on Spurgeon's fiftieth birthday. One of Spurgeon's biographers, A. Cunningham Burley, makes an extended comparison between Spurgeon and Dr. Parker; Burley wrote, "The wonderful thing is that these two men and Parker, so strangely compounded, drew closer together as time went on. They learned (surely in the school of Christ) to praise each other's genius and to rejoice in each other's success."